


LLCC

by Pantros



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 41,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22429807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pantros/pseuds/Pantros
Summary: A retelling of the RWBY story with my original characters, as well as original plot points at different times of the story.
Kudos: 2





	1. Lavender Trailer

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [RWBY](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/554233) by Monty Oum, Roosterteeth. 



> With the Trailers I will include at the end the full information about each character, that way you have a better mental picture of what they're supposed to be like.

A dark Mistral city block holds a lot of secrets dontcha think? Shady dealings, notorious and the most dangerous criminals known to man, maybe even… an assassins’ clan? My family, at least the family I’ve known my entire life, was posted in the darkest corner of Mistral, where not even the bravest of people would ever deem to walk. We’ve been here for about a year and a half, which meant it’s almost time to move again. Such is the life of someone in Astra. I laid upon the rooftop of a house I call home, staring at the cracked moon above. I remember being in a forest, seeing the moon for the first time and turning to my “mother,” Olive, asking her what had happened to the moon to make it look like that. Olive smiled at me in a way that I guess a mother could, before answering, telling me that a long time ago something terrible had happened to make the moon the way it is. She left it at that however, when I asked her what she meant. I brought myself back to the present, where Olive has appeared laying down next to me.

“You always were fascinated with the moon and night-time.” She said to me.

“Well, night was the only time we could travel. Astra didn’t allow movement in the daytime.” I said to her bluntly.

“Well, assassins’ don’t exactly work in the daytime, don’t they?” Olive jokingly said. It caused me to chuckle.

“Well, given my experience, I would say that statement is spot on.” I said to her. Olive laughed a bit at my statement, then became serious.

“The clan has two missions for you, they just came now.” Olive said to me, putting one of the missives in my hand. “The other mission comes after this one. Be careful love.” She added. I read the missive; it was a mission to assassinate the ex-head of a criminal organization. The bottom of the missive read “Leave no survivors.” I sensed our leader, Rojana Parca, nearby. She must have given the missive to Olive. I said aloud,

“The clan knows my policy, if there’s someone that cannot fight, I will not kill them.”

“We know, we want you to bring those who can’t fight here.” Rojana said, making her presence known to Olive. “There’s a kid in the compound, the info came from one of our scouts who scoped the place out before we accepted the mission. When we asked the person who hired us what to do with the kid, they reiterated the command to leave no survivors.” Rojana’s face softened. “Our clan follows orders absolute, but if there’s someone who can show results and break an order without alerting the hirer, it would be you.”

“You could do it too. I mean, that’s what you did with Olive and I.” I said to her, recounting how Olive and I came to join the clan thanks to Olive telling me. Rojana shyly smiles towards me and nods towards the missive. When I reread the missive, I noticed my name was explicitly written on there. “How does the hirer know me?”

“That comes in due time, right now you have a mission. It needs to be completed tonight.” Rojana explained.

“Consider it done.” I said to her.

* * *

“Can you hear me?” Olive said in the earpiece I was wearing. In addition to being my guardian, she’s also my handler when I’m on missions. If anything goes horribly wrong, I report to her so she can tell Rojana and Rojana can either send backup or call the mission off.

“Loud and clear.” I said quietly. I was at the compound, getting the routine of some of the guards there. The compound wasn’t large, only had one story to it and it seemed to be straight-forward. “What’s the catch Olive; this looks too easy.” I said to her.

“The leader seems to be a trained huntsman. You have your work cut out for you.” She relayed back to me.

“Let’s see how I’m feeling once I get there. Do you have where I need to be?”

“If you need practice, go through the front door, however if you just want to kill the leader, there’s a side door that you can go through, there’s no security there, at least none that I can pick up.” Olive explained to me

“I’ll go through the front and exit out the front. That side door screams problems if I opened that one up.” I said to her. Olive gives a relieved sigh.

“The front is technically the safest option since we can’t see what happens with the side door from here. I’ll let you handle things from here. I’ll ping you with directions once you’re inside. Olive out.”

I take a throwing needle out of the pouch on my hip. There are three guards stationed at the front, one on the rooftop and the two guarding the actual door. I took a second needle and threw it in a tree nearby the compound, pulling the attention of all the guards. When they walked towards the sound, I threw my initial needle at the guard on the rooftop. It pierced through his neck, causing him to fall towards the ground, landing with a thud. The other guards ran to him to check on him. From there I emerged from my hiding spot quietly and I dispatched the other two guards quickly, using Emancipation, my Emei Piercers, to pierce through their bodies, killing them instantly. I retrieved my throwing needles and grabbed a keycard from one of the guards and opened the door.

I strolled through the compound like I lived there, twirling one of my piercers in my hand. Olive pinged my earpiece, “Keep moving forward, when you get to a fork take a right, then go through the first door on the left.” She said. I sensed the guards in the other rooms, armed for combat. Olive pinged my earpiece, “There hasn’t been an alert yet so you’re doing well, eliminate every guard you can, and we can basically make this a clean getaway.” I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that Olive becomes deadly serious when I’m on a mission.

I peered into the room where I sensed the guards, two of them just standing around talking, easy. I ran into the room and pierced the guards simultaneously, making sure they don’t make a noise. I walked out of the room and strolled towards my objective. As I walked, I ran into open rooms with guards inside of them and easily dispatched of them with my throwing needles. Once I finally reached the destination, Olive pinged me again.

“He’s alone in that room, be careful.”

When I walked in, there was a man sitting at the desk inside the room. He swiveled his chair towards me and smiled.

“I knew this day would happen one way or another.” He got up. “Do what you need to do, just don’t harm my child.” He said to me cordially.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but you won’t fight?” I asked him, his friendly smiled turned into an evil smirk. “That’s what I hoped.” His weapon appeared in his hands, hidden revolvers, and he shot them at me. I easily dodged them. The bullets ricochet off the walls and almost hit me, but I dodged out the way. I must make sure I keep that in mind as he continues firing at me.

“This might turn into a dance floor in a moment, hope you can keep up.” He said with a grin. I rolled my eyes and took three needles out. I threw them at him, hoping that he’ll try to shoot them, adding more bullets into the mix. He fired at them, causing them to fall to the ground. I slid under the incoming bullets and picked up my needles. The bullets ricochet off the wall directly in front of him and start flying towards him. Using my agility, I appeared in front of him and took two of the three needles and pierced his feet, rendering him unable to move. I ducked to allow the bullets to hit him, then used Emancipation to slice him up. Once I saw his aura break, I freed him and disappeared.

“Now that just ain’t fair, come on now don’t toy with me.” He said to the open. He didn’t realize I was behind him, and I swiftly knocked him off his feet and put my weapon under him, having the fall kill him. Before he passed, he looked at me in muttered a thank you.

“Olive, mission complete, I’m heading back.” I said into the earpiece. Olive pinged back to me

“Good, don’t forget to make sure no one is following you or saw you. I don’t have any other signatures than the two in that side room that I mentioned before, one is probably the kid. Go grab him.” She said to me. The earpiece went silent, meaning that the job was over. I quickly went into the side room, where a small kid was hiding, with him was a guard, but she wasn’t armed. When I approached the kid let out a small scream, but he was silenced by his guardian. I put my finger to my lip.

“You both need to look and listen to me.” I said, waiting for them to look at me. When they did, I gave them both a friendly smile. “Can I have you both raise your arms for me?” They did as I told them. I checked their person and found their scrolls and only their scrolls. The female was named Tsuki, the kid, Yoshi. I then smashed their scrolls to make sure there was no tracking device in them. “Tsuki, how much of a fighter are you?”

“I-I’m n-n-not Miss.” She managed to blurt out. “I thought you were going to kill us?”

“I don’t harm those that can’t fight.” I said to her, softening my eyes. “It isn’t right, not to me.” I turned towards the door, “Is there anything wrong with this door? You guys could have left through it right?” This time Yoshi spoke up.

“Dad said this was a false door, if we open it up, we trigger a security turret that shoots at the door, it works both ways.” So, he was prepared for assassins, interesting.

“Then we go through the front door. Listen, do you know anyone outside of this compound? Both of you?” Yoshi shook his head, but Tsuki nodded. “Who are they?”

“My wife, she’s back at home.”

“I’ll make sure she’s ok once I’m done.” I assured her. “I need you both to follow me back to my home, okay?” They nodded their heads. “Okay, stay close and in front of me. Also, Tsuki, cover the kid’s eyes for me?” We walked out the compound and towards home base.

* * *

Once home, Rojana greeted Tsuki and Yoshi like old friends, and showed them to their new home in the area. Once they were settled down, Rojana came over to me.

“A job well done Lavender.” She said to me with a large smile.

“Well, I am your best assassin.” I said to her with a small grin. “Tsuki has a wife too, we’ll need to invite her here as well.” I said to her, Rojana nodded her head.

“I’ll send Olive to grab her. Your next mission is from a different hirer and he wanted to give you it personally. He’s waiting at your house.” She said. “I’ll make sure Tsuki and the kid is ok.” I walked into my house, there a man with white hair and small glasses stood. He had a cane with him, but it was propped to the side instead of on his person. I let out a tiny gasp once I recognized who it was.

“Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy? And what do I owe this finest pleasure?” I said to him, half sincerely and half joking.

“Well I heard about a young assassin being the best around here, I wanted to see her for myself.” He said with a smile. “And maybe turn her into a Huntress?”

“What’s in it for me?” I said to him immediately, it’s not like I didn’t want to be a huntress, I was just surprised that he came here for me.

“I know what you did in your last job, Olive told me.” Olive’s head pops in from the Kitchen. She runs out and gives me a hug and runs back into the kitchen, which meant she was probably cooking. “You weren’t supposed to save the kid and the lady.” He collected his thoughts for a moment. “Then again, you and Olive aren’t really supposed to be alive either, aren’t you?”

“How did you-” I started, but then realized how. “Rojana must have told you, were you the first hirer?”

“No, I just know how assassin contracts work.” He deadpanned. He perked his energy up a little bit before continuing. “I want you to join us at Beacon, your training is something that a lot of hunters and huntresses can use to survive, and you get to help all the people you can, without being in the shadows. How do you feel about that?” He said to me. I pondered for a moment.

“I accept.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name: Lavender Thyme
> 
> Age: 16
> 
> Race: Human
> 
> Height: 5'5
> 
> Weight:130 lbs
> 
> Personality: When she is on the field of combat she's cool-headed, silent, and deadly, and when off, she's talkative and easier to approach. She can be quite blunt and abrasive sometimes due to her upbringing, but she means the best for those she's close with and will do anything to protect them, or people who cannot fight back.
> 
> Physical Build: Slim
> 
> Hair Style: Pixie Cut
> 
> Hair Color: Lavender
> 
> Eye Color: Heterochromic- Left is silver, Right is Lavender
> 
> Weapon Name: Emancipation
> 
> Weapon Description: Emancipation are Emei Piercers that can also be used as throwing needles. When thrown, Lavender either retrieves them herself or pulls out extra needles she keeps in a pouch she has on her left hip
> 
> Clothing (Normal): A lavender hooded cloak (Hood down)
> 
> Clothing (Combat): A lavender hooded cloak (with the hood up)
> 
> Affiliations/Allegiances: Her best interests, Astra
> 
> Previous Affiliations/Allegiances: N/A
> 
> Home Base: Nomad
> 
> Home Kingdom: Mistral
> 
> Relatives: None
> 
> History: Her wealthy family was a target to Astra, a group of assassins who were hired to kill her family, The person who hired Astra left Lavender off the list as she was born about a year before her family was killed and kept in secret from the outside. When Astra came in and killed her family and servants, they found Lavender in a secret room, where her maid was protecting her. Due to the Maid's inability to fight, and Lavender being a child and not on the list of people to kill given to Astra, Astra took the two in into their clan. There, Lavender spent her years with the maid that protected her, Olive. When Lavender was old enough to train into an assassin, she took to arms, hoping to repay the Clan for the kindness she and Olive was shown. The clan gave her a choice weapons to choose from, and Lavender choose the Emei Piercers, effectively named Emancipation. Emei Piercers are considered to be the hardest weapon to use in the bunch due to how close you have to be for it to effect people, but it's an effective assassin weapon. Lavender wanted to show the clan what she could do, and she has, becoming the best Assassin Astra has seen, next to their leader Rojana.
> 
> Equipment: A pouch of Pierecers on her left hip, and Immediate piercers hidden in her cloak
> 
> Powers and Abilities: (Semblance) Not unlocked currently
> 
> Physical and Natural Abilities: Relies on her agility to dodge, adept at dodging hits that come her way. Due to training her senses are heightened and can sense anything approaching faster than others. She has the natural ability to assess threats, giving a look at someone and figuring out if they're harmful or helpful. 
> 
> Semblance Name: N/A
> 
> Semblance Description: N/A
> 
> Special Skills/Techniques: If the person she's attacking has a weak aura, she can break and injure the person in a hit due to how her weapon works.
> 
> (Scaled on a 1-10 scale)
> 
> Strength: 7/10
> 
> Speed: 10/10
> 
> Intelligence: 8/10
> 
> Defense:4/10
> 
> Agility: 8/10
> 
> Communication: 7/10
> 
> Aura: 6/10 (colored after her signature color, Lavender.)
> 
> Accuracy (Melee): 9.5/10
> 
> Accuracy (Ranged): 9.5/10


	2. Lan Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character introduction for Lan

_Inhale, hold, exhale, release. Inhale, hold, exhale, release. Inhale, hol-_

“Big Bro!” I hear my sister, Cao Mei call. I ended up losing my concentration on meditating, but I couldn’t be mad at her, she looked a bit stressed. “What’s wrong Mei?” I asked, calling her by our last name. “You normally don’t interrupt me while I’m meditating.”

“Mom and Dad wanted me to get you, we’re moving again.” She said sadly.

“Grimm?” I sighed out.

“A whole pack of them. They’re getting to be a little too close. Mom plans to move us towards Oscuro so I can continue training there without actually living there.” She explained.

“Smart plan, we can also get help from the academy if need be.” I said to her. Mei let out a bright smile.

“That was the plan. Come on, we need to move ASAP. Vacuo isn’t as forgiving as Atlas.” Mei said, walking towards the house.

“Yet somehow, still better to live in.” I retorted back, rolling my eyes. I walked towards the house as well.

Vacuo is just as the name implies, a big gaping mass of nothingness. We’re west of Vale, and it’s mostly just a desert. It’s not completely inhabitable, but it’s not an organized Kingdom like the rest of the world. We’re far away from Atlas, so I really cannot complain about our living conditions now. Plus, I like living the Nomad life. Dad says it builds character.

“Hurry now, grab your weapons and things, we need to move quickly.” Dad said, he looked worried. “They’re approaching fast, I don’t know why though…” I grabbed my sack of food and Lyphonexia, my weapon. I also grab my belt with dust vials on it, as well as my holster for my weapon. I ran towards my Dad, who was facing away from our destination.

“Is that where the Grimm is coming from?” He nods his head. “I’ll go take them, you get Mom and Mei to safety.” Dad opens his mouth to object, but before he can, we hear a Beowolf cry. “Go!”

“Be careful, Beowolves aren’t the only things you’re facing.” He says, taking his weapon out. I hear the familiar buzzing of Lancers. “You better survive.”

“I will Dad. Be safe.”

I took out my weapons and loaded fire dust into them. A whole swarm of Lancers appeared upon the desert horizon, followed by a herd of Beowolves. The Beowolves moved a little slower thanks to the desert, so I won’t have to worry about them until they get closer. Lyphonexia starts off as duel pistols, but there are more surprises in store.

_Inhale, hold, exhale, release._

I aimed at the swarm of Lancers, shooting them down with almost each fire of my pistol. By the time the Lancers reached my position, I had taken out about half of the swarm. There was still about 10 left, and now that they were basically in my face, I had to do something different. I changed one of the guns into a fan and threw it at a group of lancers. My fan hit one of the Lancers and ricochet off it. The pattern continued until it hit the last Lancer of that grouping. 6 left. The Lancers start firing their stingers at me, forcing me to shoot the stingers down. My fan finally returned to me, and I switched my dust vials from fire to wind quickly. I changed my other gun into a fan and, using the power of my dust, blew the lancers away. Once the lancers were knocked down to my level, I quickly ran over and sliced threw them all with my fans.

_Inhale, hold, exhale, release._

The first Beowolf finally appeared eye level to me, but the disadvantage of the sand was a little bit too much for it. Easy for me though. I threw my fan like a dagger which pierced into its skin. With the Wind dust inside of it, it blew the Grimm back into its companions. I switched the fan in my hand into a sword and ran towards the pack. I switched vials from Wind to Lightning, striking the first Beowolf down. I grabbed my fan from it and opened it up, allowing it to be a fan again. There’s about 13 more Beowolves that I still need to deal with, but that seems to be the least of my problems. I spot an Alpha wolf in the back, and the only way I can get to it is through the rest of the pack.

“May whoever created you see you in your final respite.” I say, as I threw my fan towards the pack. The spinning creates a sand tornado, causing all the Beowolves but the alpha to fly up. I brought my sword down on the tornado, causing the tornado to violently spiral. When the tornado finally dissipated, the Beowolf pack was gone, barring the alpha. My fan returns to me, and I switch the vials of both my sword and my fan to fire again.

_Inhale, hold, exhale, release_

The Alpha charged at me and clawed at my sword side, but I was able to block it and slashed the alpha with my fan. It tried again, this time hitting my arm, causing me to drop my sword. I quickly pick it up, switch my fan to a sword and start slashing the Alpha. The Alpha dodged my sword attacks, but little did it know, I would still hit it using my semblance. It was knocked back, surprised by the sudden hit. It’s surprised turned into anger and the Alpha recklessly charged at me. When it leaped up, I put my swords out and the Alpha landed square on them, killing it instantly. I let go of my breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. I caused a small sandstorm due to the tornado I created, but it’s nothing that I can’t handle. I started to walk towards Oscuro, but I stopped. Something didn’t feel right… I turned around,

“I know you’re there, Stranger. Come out.”

“Astute I see.” The stranger called out. His shadow showed he walked with a cane, which was weird to see in the sand. When I finally had eyes on him, I couldn’t contain my excitement.

“Professor Ozpin!?”

“In the flesh.” He chuckles. “I was hoping that I wouldn’t be discovered till you got to your new home, it would have made things a bit more official.”

“Official?” I questioned.

“Walk me to your parents and I’ll ask in front of them.”

* * *

We spent time walking in the desert. I used my scroll to pinpoint my family’s location, and once we found it my mother ran out of our makeshift home to give me a hug. Once released she looked behind me to see Professor Ozpin.

“I guess it is about that time huh.” She said with a small smile. She called Mei and my Dad out, and they ran out quickly. They both gave me hugs, then turned their focus to Ozpin. I felt Mei hide behind me, She’s not fond of strangers.

“How long has it been Ozpin?” My dad says to him, approaching him with his arms outstretched. Ozpin met him with the same gesture.

“Too long, old friend.” He said. Ozpin directs his attention to me. “Now that we’re here, I guess I should cut to the chase. I want you to come to Beacon Academy.”

“I… I only applied and got accepted to Shade Academy.” I said meekly. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I was cut out for Beacon, I just wanted to stay with my family.

“They forwarded your application and acceptance to me. They felt you would be better at Beacon than Shade.” Ozpin stuck his hand out to me, “And reading through your file, I believe that you’re a perfect candidate for Beacon. Do you accept?”

“Is that even a question? Of course I do! When do we leave?” I asked him excitedly.

“As soon as possible, I have business in Oscuro to take care of. I have to promote Beacon to the young students there before we leave.” Ozpin explained.

“That gives me time to say goodbye to my family.” I said. Ozpin nodded his head then headed towards Oscuro.

“You can either meet me there or I can meet you here, your choice.” Ozpin said to me with a small smile. I pointed towards Oscuro, as that’s where an airship terminal is. “So be it, I’ll meet you at the academy.” He said, disappearing in the sand.

“So, Beacon Academy huh?” My dad starts to say, before my family wraps me in a large hug. “We’re so proud of you Lan. You’ll be amazing there.”

“I’ll miss you, big bro!” Mei said, burying her face into my back. She then left the pile to go to the makeshift house. I think she’s taking me leaving a little hard.

“Lan, promise me that whatever happens, you’ll make it out alive.” Mom says to me. “Being a Huntsman is dangerous business, and the last thing we need to hear while you’re away is you dying.”

“Mom, I can handle myself.” I said with a small smile. I saw tears well in her eyes.

“I know sweetie, I know. Explore the world, have fun, I love you.”

“I love you too Mom, Dad. Tell Mei I love her as well.” I let go of them and started walking toward Oscuro. Mom yelled out to me one last time.

“Make some new friends!”

I couldn’t help but look at the ground as I was walking.

“I’ll try.” I muttered to myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name: Lan Mei
> 
> Age: 17
> 
> Race: Human
> 
> Height: 5'10
> 
> Weight: 155 Lbs.
> 
> Personality: Either talks a lot or talks little, Isn't afraid to crack jokes in the worst of situations, he's spiritual, spending a lot of his time meditating and focusing on his aura and semblance. When he isn't doing that he's training, honing his skills to be a huntsman. He isn't too fond of those from Atlas, and because of Atlas's mistreatment of power, he also isn't fond of people in any power over him that isn't his mother or father. Once accustomed to the people around him, he'll start relying on their abilities as well as his own.
> 
> Physical Build: Muscle definition found in his arms and chest, otherwise he's a natural build with a V-shaped body. 
> 
> Hair Style: Long sideswept hair, just enough to cover a bit of his right eye, and a bun in the back.
> 
> Hair Color: The roots are black, and as the hair gets farther from the roots it gets bluer
> 
> Eye Color: Dark green
> 
> Weapon Name: Lyphonexia
> 
> Weapon Description: A three part weapon held in both hands, Twin pistols, Duel swords, Twin Fans. The fans can be used as a ranged weapon as well as a melee weapon, and when thrown it flies back to the Lan, even when he moves. He can also throw the fan like a knife as well, but it won't come back without help. Dust can be incorporated with the weapon, making it even dangerous to fight against.
> 
> Clothing (Normal): A royal blue Tang suit and black pants. The Tang suit has a dark blue embroidery of a rabbit on it. It's ripped at the arms to give Lan more arm mobility, and his pants are stretchy to allow for more mobility in his legs as well. he wears a belt to hold his weapon and vials of dust
> 
> Clothing (Combat): The same
> 
> Affiliations/Allegiances: Beacon, LLCC
> 
> Previous Affiliations/Allegiances: Atlas/Mantle
> 
> Home Base: Nomad
> 
> Home Kingdom: Vacuole
> 
> Relatives: Mother, Father, Sister
> 
> History: Originally from Mantle before his family was tired of how Atlas was treated them, they moved to Vacuole, where they didn't have to depend on an actual government to defend themselves. Lan grew up with the want to be a Huntsman. His Mom and Dad are both huntresses/huntsman and his younger sister is also at Oscuro academy along with Lan, who is about to graduate. Because of the training his mother and father has, as well as the training he and his sister got from Oscuro, His family doesn't live with a community and fully rely on each other.
> 
> Equipment: Various vials of Dust to input into his weapon on his belt as well as a holster for his weapon. 
> 
> Powers and Abilities: Has to power to amplify his aura into his attacks, both weapons and hand-to-hand
> 
> Physical and Natural Abilities: He can take a lot of hits, more hits than a normal human.
> 
> Semblance Name: Forceful Connection
> 
> Semblance Description: If at close range, and the opponent dodges his attacks without blocking it, He can force his weapons the way towards his opponent. This causes the dodge to be a hit. You'll see his weapons glow his aura, and you'll hear a cymbal.
> 
> Special Skills/Techniques: Trained in Hand to hand combat with his family, allowing him to still fight if ever disarmed.
> 
> (Scaled out of ten)
> 
> Strength: 9/10
> 
> Speed: 7/10
> 
> Intelligence: 8/10
> 
> Defense: 7/10
> 
> Agility: 6/10
> 
> Communication: 3/10
> 
> Aura: 10/10 (Aura matches his color, Blue)
> 
> Accuracy (Melee): Fans: 7/10, Swords 9/10
> 
> Accuracy (Ranged): Fans: 9/10, Guns: 8/10


	3. Chris Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character Introduction to Chris Anthemum

“The Annual Signal Scouting has begun!” My mother, Professor Nicholette, announced to us. My classmates murmur with excitement, and I was too. I was mostly afraid though; this is the first time the schools were coming around. I really wanted to make a good impression, especially on Professor Ozpin. Living in Vale all my life, I just ended up with the fascination with Beacon. I’ve been training my entire life for this though; I cannot afford to mess up.

“Allow me to explain the rules, all senior classmen will be required to battle in two battles, a one vs one battle and a battle with a partner. This is to show the headmasters your abilities in combat in both a solo component and how well you get along with your peers.” She took a small breath before she announced the next part.

“You’ll be doing your 1on1 battles first. If you pay attention to the screen behind me, you’ll see a letter followed by a series of numbers. These relate to your school IDs. Once you find your ID, the ID that’s across from yours is your opponent for your fight. This needed to stay random, Huntsman and Huntresses don’t always know who they’ll be fighting and when. Once we see that everyone has found their ID, we’ll announce the first match. If you’re not fighting, we ask that you wait with your lower classmen on the bleachers. They’ll be watching your fights as well. Have a wonderful day today students, and good luck.”

As like magic, the moment she ended her speech the screen behind her lit up and a sprawl of IDs appear. I checked my Student ID, C752901 and found my ID near the middle of the screen. Across from it was C003291. I recoiled slightly, as the only C name I knew here at signal was…

“Hey Bambi! Hope you’re ready for disappointment, because that’s exactly what you’re going to get.” I hear a large voice sneer at me. I turned around and saw Cardin Winchester. He was grinning from ear to ear as he showed me his ID. It matched what was across from mine. “Boo hoo, looks like someone isn’t going to do so well here.” He continued to mock.

“Do you get off on picking on people smaller than you?” I heard a female voice say behind me. It calmed me down to recognize who it was, and I produced a small smile. A blonde girl walked in front of me. “Or are you just that insecure that you feel the need to do so?” Cardin backs away from us with his hands up, like he hasn’t done anything. When he was gone, I put my hand on her shoulder.

“Thank you, Yang.” I said quietly, it wasn’t the first time she came to save me.

“No problem Chris. I should be thanking you as well, I’m sure if you weren’t here, I probably would have clocked him.” She sneered at Cardin. “Just, who does he think he is?”

“He’s a bully, through and through. He’ll get his comeuppance here though.” I said determinedly.

“Ruby and I will be watching your match closely.” She said, pointing towards where Ruby was sitting. She waved at us before talking to her friend right next to her. “Kick his ass Chris.” She extended a fist towards me. I fist bumped her with a small smile.

“That’s the plan.”

* * *

“Now that I’ve seen that everyone has found their IDs your first battle will be between these two!” Professor Nicholette announced. The screen clears except for a pairing near the middle. My eyes widened when I realized that Cardin and I were the first to go. “Will these two please come to me so the Headmasters can get your names?” Cardin and I walk up towards the professors. I saw Professor Ozpin’s eyes light up when we appeared in front of them all. My mother couldn’t help but smile at me before she returned to her professional posture. “Please you two, introduce yourself to the Headmasters.”

“Cardin Winchester’s the name. You won’t forget it, trust me.” Cardin said with a very cocky tone. I saw my mother roll her eyes, which forced me to stifle a chuckle. When it was my turn however, I couldn’t hide my nervousness.

“Ch-Ch-Ch-” I couldn’t get it out, causing Cardin to laugh. I took a deep breath. “Chris Anthemum” I finally blurted out. I felt my cheeks flush from embarrassment.

“Being nervous is completely natural Chris, It’s a sign that you’re human.” Professor Ozpin interjected, I saw General Ironwood of Atlas and Professor Lionheart of Mistral nod their heads in agreement. “I’m excited to see how this match plays out.” He added, with a small smile towards us. I nodded my head in acknowledgment and Cardin and I turned around and left the area.

I went into the locker room and changed out of my school uniform and into my normal clothes except a hoodie that I always wear, a gift from my mother after she adopted me. I grabbed Atelia, my weapon, from my locker. I took a deep breath again and walked out onto the arena. Professor Taiyang, Yang and Ruby’s father, was the referee for this match. Cardin was already on the other side of the arena, ready.

“Hey Bambi! Maybe this time I’ll take your cute little tail off.” He sneered at me. I started to shake uncontrollably. “You scared?” He laughed. Cardin’s been bullying me since I was younger. He’s the reason that I don’t have antlers anymore, why my father decided to kick out a defenseless seven-year-old into the streets. I focused on my emotions, trying to force the nerves out of my body. I remembered what Professor Ozpin said to me and took a deep breath. The nerves disappeared, and a new emotion appeared in its stead.

“Maybe you should keep the flirting till after the battle.” I retorted back to him. I readied Atelia. I smirked at him, “And you won’t even get a chance to touch me.” I said defiantly. I saw Cardin’s face explode with anger. I heard Yang whoop and holler and I hear Ruby laughing. I even saw the guys that I see Cardin with all the time laugh at him too.

“I’ll make sure that you eat your words!” He said angerly. He started to charge, but Professor Taiyang stopped him.

“You wanna wait till after I call the match to begin?” He said, he clearly was a bit annoyed by Cardin’s actions. Cardin backed up back to his spot. Professor Taiyang gained his professionality again.

“The match will begin when I say it does and will end when I call it. Obviously, we’ll fight until either participants aura diminishes to a less than safe level. Remember, this isn’t just a regular sparring session, so do not be afraid to go all out.” Professor Taiyang looked at the both of us. “Begin!” He said, jumping away to the edge of the arena.

Cardin immediately charged at me, but he wasn’t fast enough to get to me before I fired some fire dust embedded arrows onto the ground. When Cardin ran over to them, the fire dust arrows exploded, launching him into the air. I let loose a wind infused arrow onto him, forcing him to fly back to where he started.

“I told you, you weren’t going to touch me.” I said, with the flare of defiance inside of me from before. I load up a lightning arrow and fire it at Cardin. Cardin swatted it with his mace, unaware that the arrow was going to electrocute his mace on impact. I saw his body recoil at the electricity, and he dropped his mace because of it. I quickly shoot an ice arrow at the Mace, rooting it into the ground.

“So that’s how you’ll win, by cheating!” Cardin says, charging at me again. I shoot another wind arrow at him, blowing him back to his mace. He tries charging again but his charge isn’t as fast as his first few. I’m wearing him down and he knows it. I still don’t plan on letting him get close to me, So I fired another wind arrow into his chest to back him up.

“This is a war of attrition at this point. and I’ll be the victor.” I load up an ice arrow. Cardin charges towards me, and I fired it into the ground, making the ground slippery. Cardin took a step onto it and slipped, falling onto the ground. That fall depleted a good portion of his aura. Cardin got up from his fall, and I can see that he’s tired, but he attempts one final charge. I let go a fire arrow, and it exploded on impact, knocking Cardin down. Professor Taiyang called the match after that.

“With a perfect victory, the winner here is Chris Anthemum!” He announced. I heard the arena erupt with applause, with some whoops and hollers from Yang, Ruby, and others that suffered under Cardin. I looked towards the Headmaster Table, all of which were applauding as well. Ozpin had a small smile on his face as he was applauding, and I felt on top of the world. I haven’t felt this happy in forever. For once, I beat my bully.

“You got lucky this time Bambi,” I heard Cardin say. The ice melted from his mace, allowing Cardin to grab it. “Next time? You won’t be so lucky.”

“Luck didn’t play a factor in his win.” Professor Ozpin interjected. “It was pure skill, something you might need to work on Mr. Winchester.” Cardin grumbled at his comment and left. Ozpin turned to me. “I cannot wait to see how you perform in the partner round.” I nodded my head and headed out the arena. I went and joined Ruby and Yang in the bleachers.

“That definitely wasn’t the Chris I know, talking back to Cardin like that!” Yang jokingly said.

“I thought back to what Professor Ozpin said, where being nervous makes you human. I realized I was tired of Cardin treating me like I wasn’t one, that I was just a Faunus plaything to him. So, I fought that way too.”

“You were so AWESOME out there!” Ruby said excitedly. “The fact that you didn’t even move from your spot when you were attacking him too?”

“Don’t forget about the part where I didn’t get touched.” I said proudly. I let out a breath afterwards. “And now I sit back and enjoy the rest of the tournament until the partner round.”

* * *

Watching the rest of the 1on1s was fun. Watching my classmates put their all into this was interesting vs the spars that we normally have. Yang was the last match of the 1on1’s and seeing Yang in action was always a treat. She destroyed her opponent quickly, making her match the shortest of all the matches today. Once she took her seat near us, Mom took the podium again.

“Like the 1on1s, the screen behind me will light up with your codes, your partner will be close to your ID. Find your partner and converse with them. Your opponent’s code will be directly across from you.” She explained.

The screen lit up again, this time with the IDs taking up less on the screen than the first time. I found my ID and my partner actually ended up being Yang. I smiled at her, who reciprocated the gesture. Our opponents were Dove Bronzewing and Russel Thrush, two of my other bullies. This just felt like I was getting revenge for all the suffering I was handed all these years. Of course, our fight was the first to be adjudicated. Yang and I went into the waiting room to get ready. Once we were, we headed out into the arena again. I could tell Professor Taiyang was tired of having to be the ref for all the matches, but at least he had a close up of all the action.

The Professor started the match and Yang immediately shot one of her shotgun blasts at the ground between them, forcing them to split up. Yang went for Russel, which left Dove for me. I wanted to show more than just my archery skills, so I changed Atelia into a whip and inserted three dust vials into its chamber: ice, fire, and wind. I start charging towards Dove with Atelia ready. Dove starts taking pot shots at me, but I blocked them all, and with Atelia moving with me, I was able to lash him with my whip, knocking him back with the fire portion of the whip. He was able to stop the whip attack, but the dust was the reason why he was knocked back. It gave me a chance to look over at Yang and Russel’s fight, and it looked like Russel had a bit of an advantage over Yang. He was pushing her back bit by bit. Her aura was slowly depleting, and I didn’t want her to lose here.

Dove recovered and started to charge at me, but I was a bit too fast for him and managed to use my whip to knock him into Russel, disrupting his attack against Yang. They fell over and was slowly getting up. I looked over at Yang and showed off my ice vial, hoping she would understand what I wanted to do. I side swiped the floor, causing the ice to reach out and wide. I saw Yang backflip into the air and, with her weapon, she hit the ground. This caused mist to appear, which allowed Yang and I to move incognito. I could see the silhouettes of Russel and Dove, and they appeared confused.

I changed Atelia into a large circular blade. Using the wind vial, I spun around with the blade in my hand, causing a tornado to form around me. As soon as the mist cleared due to all the wind happening, I threw Atelia at Russel and Dove. They spotted where we were, but it was too late, as Atelia had reached them and blew them up into the air. All it took was Yang to shoot a shotgun blast at the both of them for Taiyang to call the match.

“Our winners this match is Chris Anthemum and Yang Xiao Long! Great match you two.” He announced, unable to contain his pride in his daughter. The crowd applauded as Yang and I left the arena.

“That was awesome Yang!” I said excitedly, once we got into the locker room.

“Your strategy was what made it awesome. Honestly, I’m glad that it worked.” Yang said to me. “Maybe Professor Ozpin can see that your more than capable to come to Beacon.”

“That would be pretty nice… but I’m not the right age still to go to Beacon, or any academy for that matter. Mom wants me to wait till I turn the right age, and just practice at home.”

“I believe your mother wants you to attend Beacon now.” I heard a voice say from the doorway to the locker room. I turned around, and there was Professor Ozpin in the flesh. “I already went and talked to her, and she finalized it with Professor Goodwitch.”

“Wait, what?” Yang said aloud. Professor Ozpin turned to her.

“I wouldn’t fret Miss Xiao Long. I came to tell you both that you’ll be attending Beacon Academy come this fall. I know you sent your file to us, and I was incredibly impressed by how you both handled yourselves in the partner round and in your solo fights.” Ozpin explained to us. I couldn’t contain my excitement, my body started bouncing uncontrollably. This caused Yang to put her hand on my shoulder, which ceased my bouncing. “I see someone’s excited.” Ozpin laughed as he said that. My cheeks flush with embarrassment again.

“I didn’t think I’d be pushed forward; I just don’t believe what’s happening right now.” I managed to blurt out.

“Well believe it Mr. Anthemum. Now, there’s more matches to watch. I’ll see you both at Beacon.” Professor Ozpin stated as he left the room, Leaving Yang and I speechless.

“Hey Yang?” I asked.

“Yes Chris?” She replied.

“Am I dreaming?”

“No, No you’re not Chris.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name: Chris Anthemum
> 
> Age: 14
> 
> Race: Deer Faunus. Deer tail and broken antlers.
> 
> Height: 5'0
> 
> Weight: 115 lbs
> 
> Personality: Extremely timid and shy at first meeting. After a while, he does warm up. (Or harden, depending on the person) Extremely caring and will do anything for those that he cares about.
> 
> Physical Build: Slim all throughout, with muscle definition in his legs.
> 
> Hair Style: Short shaggy hair, short enough where you can see the nubs from where his antlers used to grow from.
> 
> Hair Color: Light pink
> 
> Eye Color: Yellow
> 
> Weapon Name: Atelia
> 
> Weapon Description: A three part weapon with Main proficiency in the ranged element, a Bow and incorporation of Dust Arrows. From here he can either covert the bow into a whip (The thread that you hook the arrows onto breaks from the bottom, losing the tension. It also grows in width to allow for better accuracy and damage,) Or into a circular blade that fits along his body. He can either attack using his whole body, or just by slinging the blade itself. (The thread tightens and grows in width.) 
> 
> Clothing (Normal): White hoodie with a Light pink Chrysanthemum in the middle. Black combat pants. Underneath the hoodie is a light pink plain tee. 
> 
> Clothing (Combat):Light pink plain tee with Black combat pants.
> 
> Affiliations/Allegiances: Beacon, LLCC
> 
> Previous Affiliations/Allegiances: Signal Academy
> 
> Home Base: Vale
> 
> Home Kingdom:Vale
> 
> Relatives: Father (Estranged), Mother (Estranged), Nicholette Silva (Adopted mother)
> 
> History: At age 7, His peers tormented him for his faunus heritage. Chris' antlers were growing in, and his peers were not a fan of that, so, with the help of older peers, they cut off his antlers. In the process of doing so, they also damaged pedicles which meant that his antlers weren't coming back, as well as the hormones that pedicles produced (Testosterone). His father was disappointed with Chris inability to fight back, and since his antlers aren't coming back, his father often abused him for not being a real man. He drank, and one day in a fit of anger, he threw out Chris from his house, telling him that until he learns to be a man to never return. His mother did nothing but watch as this all happened, not once talking to Chris throughout this. Chris was forced to roam the streets until his 8th birthday, where Professor Nicholette of Signal found him. She took him in and cared for him as her own until eventually they finalized his adoption. At 9, He showed a proficient talent in Archery. Named a child prodigy, Nicholette decided to train him in this so he can protect himself. At ten, he surpassed his mother in Archery, and Nicholette pushed to enroll him in Signal Academy due to his skills. While taking the entrance exam at Signal Academy, he showed his proficiency in Archery by splitting his arrow with another arrow. The trick worked perfectly, netting him a spot at Beacon. Now he's 14 and ready to graduate and attend Beacon Academy. 
> 
> Equipment: Pouch of arrows on his back. Vials of Dust for his Whip and Circle Blade at his hip. 
> 
> Powers and Abilities: Has the power to force emotions (Look at Semblance)
> 
> Physical and Natural Abilities: Has the Natural ability to read the emotions of his peers. Has the physical and natural ability to appear smaller than he actually is, making him invisible in plain sight.
> 
> Semblance Name: Artificial Peace
> 
> Semblance Description: Unlocked by the first anger outburst he experienced after his father threw him out, Chris can force people around him to be calm and more willing to talk versus fighting one another. It is a passive semblance, meaning that him being around already calms people down as well. When he actively uses it, you'll hear doves cooing.
> 
> Special Skills/Techniques: Has the ability to use his own aura to transfer and heal others. Unlike Jaune, who uses this as a Semblance, Chris realized he had this skill the moment he started training at Signal. Think of it as a sacrifice.
> 
> (Rated on a scale of 1-10)
> 
> Strength: 6/10
> 
> Speed: 9/10
> 
> Intelligence: 10/10
> 
> Defense: 5/10
> 
> Agility: 8/10
> 
> Communication: 1/10 when first meeting. 5/10 if acquaintances 10/10 if friends
> 
> Aura: 10/10 (Colored Orange)
> 
> Accuracy (Melee): Whip 8/10 Circular blade 7/10
> 
> Accuracy (Ranged): Bow and Arrow 9.5/10


	4. Cherri Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character introduction to Cherri Micks

I was walking through Mantle absentmindedly, unaware of everyone around me. I do this a lot, one of the perks of not being a combat school student, military or a worker. Wynlansion, my weapon, was held at my hip. I just kept walking with a very sweet smile on my face. I do end up hitting a couple corners here and there while turning, but that’s nothing I couldn’t handle. Many of the people of Mantle know who I am, and I saw some waving at me. I waved back of course, giving them that same smile I wore while I was walking. Walking is all I can do really; I can’t anger the people of Atlas or Mantle.

At least, I thought walking was all I could do today. I noticed some people following behind me, but I won’t worry about them. I walked towards the edge of Mantle where there was a gate leading to the outside. The guards had stopped me. They know who I am, but they still had to ask why I was leaving.

“Just going on a leisurely stroll officer!” I said ecstatically, my tail wagging happily as well.

“Alright Cherri, Be careful.” The guard said back to me. I stopped them before they left.

“There’s some people following behind me. Let them through too okay?” I said to them. The guard looked puzzled.

 _“Lemme flash them my signature smile”_ Rasp said in my head. I allowed her to take control so she can do just that, before relinquishing control back to me. The guard understood what that meant immediately and nodded their head.

“Of course, Cherri, I’ll let them through.” The guard said.

“Thank you! I’ll try to be fast, so you don’t worry about me.” I said to them. They laughed at what I said, allowing me through.

“With your little friend there, I don’t think I need to worry about you at all.”

“ _You’re cute saying that Cherri.”_ Rasp says to me. _“They know who we are of course.”_

“Well, we do protect Mantle occasionally.” I thought aloud, walking through the gate. Rasp laughed a little bit.

 _“You’re not wrong, but you know why they know us.”_ She said again.

Why wouldn’t I know? The orphanage had to deal with so many Atlas police officers because of Rasp charring that poor man’s ear. He did have it coming, from what Rasp told me. It looks like I might have to fight again.

_“Keep walking out, away from Mantle. If for some reason we bring Grimm, I wanna keep it away from the City.”_

“Ok Rasp.” I said aloud, walking away quickly. “I thought you enjoyed the thought of violence?” I asked her.

_“I do! But Grimm panic, which brings more Grimm, and then we don’t have a home anymore.”_

“Right. Sorry, I forgot.” I kept the pace, sometimes skipping as I was walking. “Just let me know when to stop, and I’d like to see if I can deal with them myself.” I added to her.

_“I’ll be quiet while you all fight, but the moment any of them calls you a mutt I’m ripping them a new one.”_

“I don’t have much of a choice at that point.” I said smiling.

_“Pick up the pace, you need him to not see you so you can hide.”_

“Okayyyyyyy!” I say, I practically start running towards the hills. The people following me picked up their pace as well, but not fast enough.

_“Stop! And prepare.”_

I found a hiding spot and took Wynlansion out and made the sniper rifle. I looked into the scope. There were about 7 guys following me, all wearing the same uniform. They looked like mobsters to me.

_“Problem, they wear the same uniform as the people who took you.”_

“I have a solution.” I said straight faced. I fired a shot at them, hitting one square in the head. He fell over, causing the remaining 6 to find places to hide. I took more shots at them, hitting and killing another one. I managed to hit another, but I only injured him, the rest missed. I noticed that there was a lot snow on a hill they were hiding around, so I took some fire dust and sprayed it in my pan. Once I had a good enough fireball, I lobbed it onto the hill, forcing the snow to melt and the water to rush forward. The water pushed 2 of the 5 forwards, making them an easy picking for me. Once the water died down, one of the goons came out from hiding and yelled out,

“Stop being a coward you mangy mutt!”

I felt my ears perk up, the first sign that my semblance was activated. Instead of fighting that change like I used to in the past, I allowed my body to be taken over. My consciousness dulled, and the world as I knew it went black.

Good luck Rasp.

* * *

“WHAT DID YOU SAY!” I screamed out to them. I wanted them to repeat the phase. We’ll see who the mangy mutt is.

“I said, Stop being a coward you mangy mutt! Come down here and fight!”

I allowed Wynlansion to return to its weighted staff version, I left the pan open so I can use its sniper rifle. I appeared from where Cherri hid us and shot the goons a grin.

“With pleasure!” I shot behind me to propel myself forward and brought Wynlansion on top of his head. This killed him instantly, and I shot back so I can propel into the other two. One took his weapon and started shooting me, so I blocked it by spinning Wynlansion. I shot under myself and propelled myself up. I then shot a Sniper shot at the one who shot at me, forcing myself upward again. The guy blocked the shot, but wasn’t ready for me bring Wynlansion down on his head. His aura protected him, but it broke due to where the hit landed. I sprinkled fire dust in the pan and quickly produced a fireball. I tennis balled it onto the man while he was still on the ground, burning him alive. The final guy, after watching everything that I’ve done to his Teammates, starts to run back to Mantle. I made another fireball and lobbed it into the air above him. I then shot the ball, making it rain fire above him. The fire caught on the man burning his head, clothes, skin. He eventually starts sautéing on the spot, killing him. With that guy done, I started to feel my ears droop. I sensed another presence somewhere though, perking my ears up again and I whirled around growling.

“Calm down Rasp, It’s me Marrow.” The body said. I felt my body untense.

“Marrow, I swear to god if you scare me like that again I’m going to _hurt_ you.” I threatened. “Where’s the rest of the Ace Ops?’

“Harriet is at the Airship waiting for us. Elm and Vine are currently on missions, and Clover is with Ironwood entertaining our guest.” He explained.

“What do you mean Harriet is waiting for us?” I asked skeptically.

“That guest that Clover and Ironwood is with? He had asked to see you, well, the both of you.” Marrow said. I rolled my eyes.

“Take me to the airship. I’ll have to fill in Cherri about the situation.”

“I assume someone called you a mutt?”

“A mangey one at that too.” I said laughing. “You wanna see him? He’s the one with a dent in his head.” I said proudly.

“Cute, lets go Rasp.” Marrow said, not looking at the dented man.

“On it, boss.” I said, following him. I allowed my ears to droop, and allowed my consciousness to dull. Giving Cherri her body back.

* * *

“Thank you Rasp for taking care of the rest.” I said to her.

“ _You took out most of them Cherri, I just took out the stragglers.”_ Rasp said.

“But you took out the harder enemy it seems.”

_“That’s ok, you still did a great job.”_

“Thank you.” I giggled. “You don’t really compliment me a lot.”

 _“Let’s not push it too far.”_ She snapped. _“Now than, what are we going to do about this.”_

“Do you want to take over and do the talking?” I asked her sincerely and quietly, I was too afraid to talk to these people, and I didn’t want Marrow and Harriet to overhear us.

“ _If that’s what you wish, I’ll switch with you.”_

I allowed Rasp to take over, which allowed me to stay present in the situation while Rasp did the talking. She kept my ears and hair down, and the Emblem didn’t change, which meant that she was impersonating me. We arrived at Atlas academy and was led to General Ironwood’s chambers.

We weren’t unfamiliar with Atlas academy, we’ve been brought here many times by the Ace Ops, often because of Rasp. For some reason we’re never jailed, and we even could train while we’re there, before we have to leave. I never understood why Ironwood treated us this way, but it felt nice. Sometimes we even joined the Ace Ops on missions, which is even weirder. When we arrived at Ironwoods chamber, Marrow shot us a huge smile and opened the door. In there was Ironwood and Clover, and this man with white hair. Clover shot up and walked over to us. He looked at my shirt.

“Cherri! Please, come and sit.” He stated, allowing us to sit where he was sitting.

“Cherri.” General Ironwood started to say. “This is Headmaster Ozpin from Beacon.” Rasp moved forward and shook his hand with a smile. Rasp still had her sharp toothed smile but managed to hide it from Ironwood and Clover. We haven’t met Ozpin yet, so he doesn’t know about Rasp, at least, unless Ironwood told him.

“Charmed.” He said shortly. “Now than, who do I really have the pleasure of meeting.” He said curtly. There was a small smile on his face, which meant he knew.

“Cherri, Headmaster Ozpin.” Rasp said. “I guess Ironwood has told you about my Semblance.”

_“Rasp, be careful.”_

“Of course, Ironwood sent over your file and clips of your outbursts and missions.” Professor Ozpin said, keeping the small smile on his face. “You’re quite the specimen, being 2 souls in one body. Something that, in a way, I understand.”

“Sir, you know what it’s like?” I asked him. He shook his head.

“Not like that sadly, I can just put myself into your shoes.” He said. “Anyways, besides meeting you I wanted to ask you something.” He explained. Rasp leaned back in her seat, signaling Ozpin to continue. “Right, I wanted to invite you to come study at Beacon.”

“Is General Ironwood ok with that?” I asked.

“While you’re a great help to us Cherri, you’re not exactly under our school. This is your choice to make.” Ironwood explained to us.

“Your abilities and assets would be a great help, and I believe you were destined to come here. Raspberri.” He said, calling out Rasp’s bluff. Rasp smiled at Ozpin, and allowed her changes occur, exposing her farce in front of Clover and General Ironwood.

“You’re too good at impersonating Cherri.” Clover stated plainly.

“It’s easy being an airhead.” Rasp said with a grin.

 _“Heyyyyyyy. I know that your correct, but you didn’t have to be so blunt about it!”_ I said to her.

“Sorry Cherri.” Rasp laughed out. Ozpin cleared his throat.

“I assume she understands the situation Raspberri.”

“She does Oz, and you can just call me Rasp. Raspberri is too long to say in my opinion.”

“Well, what’s her answer?” He asked.

 _“If it’s going to help me become a huntress, I’d love to.”_ I told Rasp.

“She said she’s in, and what Cherri says goes so, I’m in too.” Rasp told the others. General Ironwood clapped his hands together.

“Great, I’ll create the paperwork to finalize this. Then we can send you over to Beacon.”

“You won’t regret this choice Miss Micks. Thank you.” Ozpin said, bowing to us.

“I think I speak for Cherri when I say it would be an honor. Thank you for extending this offer to us.” Rasp said, giving Ozpin her signature smile. I realized what this meant.

_“We have a new home.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name: Cherri/Raspberri Micks (Raspberri is nicknamed Rasp)
> 
> Age: 17
> 
> Race: Dog Faunus, visible ears and tail. (When Cherri is in control, Her ears droop. When Rasp is in control, her ears are pointed up)
> 
> Height: 5'8
> 
> Weight: 158 lbs
> 
> Personality: Cherri is more carefree and is an airhead. She won't get jokes and sarcasm, and if she ever says the wrong thing, she won't realize that she has said it. Rasp is more serious and alert. She's the one who explains the hidden meaning within people's words to Cherri. She is a bit prone to random outbursts of violence, resorting to using violence over talking. They're both really caring, Rasp once she actually gets to know you. They often cook to show their affection.
> 
> Physical Build: Curvy and Top heavy.
> 
> Hair Style: Long wavy hair, sometimes put into a ponytail. (Rasp's preference of choice)
> 
> Hair Color: Cherry red
> 
> Eye Color: Cherri- Black (Her eyes are normally closed), Rasp- Red
> 
> Weapon Name: Wynlansion
> 
> Weapon Description: It's a frying pan that can extend out, turning it more like a weighted staff. The Pan can also open up and turn into a scope, converting the entire weapon into a sniper rifle. She can also use fire dust to create fire balls in her pan, which she uses to lob it. Rasp often uses the fireballs like they're tennis balls, using the back side of the pan to hit them towards people.
> 
> Clothing (Normal): Off the Shoulder white top with a cherry emblem. When Rasp is in control the emblem switches to raspberry
> 
> Clothing (Combat): Same thing
> 
> Affiliations/Allegiances: LLCC, Beacon
> 
> Previous Affiliations/Allegiances: N/A
> 
> Home Base: Mantle
> 
> Home Kingdom: Atlas
> 
> Relatives: Unnamed Father and mother (Dead)
> 
> History: When Cherri was younger, about maybe 10, she remember roaming around Mantle with her friends and having fun. The next thing she remembers are these weird people coming up to her and asking her questions. The same weird people than took her away from her friends and away from the Orphanage she was a part of. These people did really weird things to Cherri, she remember being hurt from what they did. After that, she remembers seeing their charred bodies dead on the floor, and a frying pan in her hand. She doesn't remember killing the people, but she was glad her pain was over. She left that area with her strange gift that she felt that she couldn't part ways with. A year or so later from that incident, she remembers someone heckling her, calling her mean names because of her Faunus heritage. She doesn't exactly remember what happened after that, but she does remember the heckler running with a burnt ear, and she remembers the people of Mantle looking at her like a monster. Now, she knows about the entity she shares a body with, and she knows that all they want to do is protect her, no matter what. 
> 
> Equipment: Hairties, a belt to hold her sniper ammo, vials of fire dust. A holder for Wynlansion
> 
> Powers and Abilities: (Look at Semblance)
> 
> Physical and Natural Abilities: Rasp has the natural ability to be adept with any weapon she gets her hands on. Both are natural cookers as well, able to make ANYTHING edible
> 
> Semblance Name: Jekyll'n'Hyde
> 
> Semblance Description: Rasp is an "alter ego" of Cherri, unlocked after radical atlas scientists did inhumane testing to her. The easiest way to activate Cherri's Semblance is by calling her a "mutt" or if you use Dog as a derogatory term, Rasp comes out at full force, and won't leave until the threat is dealt with, whether that be by death or fleeing. Rasp has access to Cherri's memories as well, that way Rasp doesn't hurt the people Cherri has become friends with. Cherri can't access Rasp's memories however, so anything that happens while Rasp is present will have to be explained to her. Rasp, with permission from Cherri, can also take control of her body for a pretty long time (Like Oz and Oscar sort of, except Rasp can't force control.) Here, Cherri does remember whatever happens. Finally, Rasp can impersonate Cherri, keeping all the characteristics of when Cherri is in control (Cherry emblem, Ears droop, Eye color.) The two differences in impersonation is their smiles; Rasp has a sharp toothy smile, and their auras.
> 
> Special Skills/Techniques: With Rasp's instruction, Cherri can create dust sniper bullets. Rasp can do the same as well
> 
> Strength: 6/10, 10/10
> 
> Speed: 8/10, 10/10
> 
> Intelligence: 2/10, 10/10
> 
> Defense:5/10, 8/10
> 
> Agility: 7/10, 9/10
> 
> Communication: 7/10
> 
> Aura: 8/10 (Cherri's is Black, Rasp's is red)
> 
> Accuracy (Melee):6/10, 9.5/10
> 
> Accuracy (Ranged): 6.5/10, 9.5/10


	5. Guidelines about what you're reading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of Information about LLCC

Hello! This is Pantros here. I wanted to share with you some Information about LLCC and what to expect from future chapters of this work.

First of all, LLCC will not be breaking up into volumes like RWBY does. I might split it with every time skip so I can show the Time skip, but otherwise, this will be a straight shot from Volume 1 to the beginning of Volume 4.

Secondly, I will be naming every chapter as well as putting who the main Point of view will be at the beginning of the chapter. Unless indicated inside the work itself, assume that the Character will have full point of view control. With the Chapters, due to me following RWBY canon a bit, I will be naming the chapters as such.  
  
If the chapter name is WORD FOR WORD to an episode, than most of the plot points in that chapter were taken from that episode (Example, If the name of the chapter is "The Emerald Forest." Assume that the plot for that will follow that episode.)

If the chapter doesn't follow the episode name word for word, it'll hold a lot of the plot points I made for the story. I'm hoping to keep this mixed, but I know at some point Canon may overtake the original for story purposes.

Lastly, I am human, and while I have a computer and a program to catch grammar and spelling errors for me, it and I don't catch everything. I apologize, please know that I am trying my best. I also apologize for any writing droughts that may happen.

Please enjoy LLCC! 


	6. New Life at Beacon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First chapter of LLCC

**Lavender**

When I arrived at Beacon, all I could do was marvel at it. I’ve only seen the school at night, but in the daytime it’s gorgeous. I basically spent a good portion of my day just cruising around the school. It was… relaxing. It was nice to also be surrounded by people who aren’t a part of Astra. I love the clan, but it’s hard to make friends there since they’re all dedicated to their job. I went and located the ballroom we were going to stay in until after initiation and took a small nap. When I awoke, I was greeted by a small girl, an even smaller Deer Faunus, and a girl with Blonde hair. Astra had no Faunus members, and none of my targets were Faunus either, so I couldn’t help but stare at the Faunus. It looked like it was a deer, but I couldn’t figure out if it was a male or female.

“Y’know, you can always ASK them what gender they are.” I hear a voice say. I snapped back to reality and saw that the three of them were looking back at me. “Oh, wait, did you zone out?” The blonde stammered, looking embarrassed.

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” I said, equally embarrassed. “You’re actually the first Faunus I’ve ever seen.” The others looked at me skeptically. “I’m from Mistral, if that means anything.” The blonde sighed.

“Sadly, it does.” She stuck out her hand. “Yang.”

“I’m Ruby! Yang’s my older sister.” The little girl said.

“Chris…” The Faunus said quietly. I shook Yang’s hand and met every one of them.

“Lavender is my name. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable Chris.” I said to him once I got to him. I noticed his lack of antlers and a scar where his antlers are supposed to be.

“It’s ok. I’m just glad that you’re not a Faunus hater.” He said quietly to me. I looked at him and thought for a moment.

“Well, why would I hate something or someone I’ve never met or experienced? Besides, despite Mistral’s popular belief, you are human and should be treated as such.”

“Did I just meet an angel?” Yang said incredulously.

“No, you just met a kind human.” I said to them. If what I heard about there being teams, I need to be friendly with everyone I meet. That being said, I meant everything I said to them. Olive always told me that there were people that were different than me, but to treat them with as much kindness as they deserve.

“I’ll see you three at the training area ok?” Yang said, I waved goodbye to her as she walked out.

“I’m going to keep walking around. Hopefully we meet again!” I said to the other two.

* * *

Feeling rejuvenated from my nap and from that talk, I resumed exploring Beacon. I found little nooks and crannies that made for good dark spots. I took a mental note, making sure to check this place out in the future. While walking in one of the corridors, I saw this boy in a blue getup and a girl in white talking. I immediately recognized the girl, Weiss Schnee. She’s the heiress to the Schnee dust company. The male though, he was someone I didn’t recognize. I walked up to the both of them, hearing a little bit of the conversation as I’m walking up.

“You should have a little bit of an inkling why I’m here Lan.” Weiss said to him.

“Yeah, I know.” Lan said back to her.

“Uh, hello!” I said to them, shooting both out of their conversation. “Sorry to interrupt, but I saw you Ms. Schnee and I wanted to meet you. I’m surprised that you came out here instead of staying at your manor.” I said bluntly. I realized how that sounded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that in the way it sounded.”

“No, It’s ok really. I get that question a lot. I wanted to uphold my family name. Being a Schnee is a lot of responsibility and expectations.” I felt the hidden sadness in her voice, but I didn’t want to pry.

“Okay. I’m Lavender Thyme, I guess we’re going to be classmates. Are you both first years?”

“We are. Aren’t you a little young to be a huntress?” Lan asked me. Weiss nudged him. “Sorry, I meant my name is Lan.” He stuck out his hand and I shook it. His skin felt coarse.

“Are you from Vacuole?” I asked him. Lan nodded his head. I looked at the two of them, they seemed well acquainted. How would they know each other? At that moment Pyrrha Nikos walked by us, waving a small hello to us all. What a coincidence, Remnants most renowned fighter and the Schnee heiress here at Beacon. I hope this year stays interesting. Weiss’s face changes as Pyrrha walks by her.

“Well, Lavender it was nice meeting you.” Weiss started to say. “I need to get going. Maybe I’ll see you around?” She said to the both of us, running towards Pyrrha.

“Of course Weiss.” Lan said to her. Weiss left, prompting me to turn to Lan.

“Ozpin asked me to come here, if you were curious.” I said to him. “There’s at least one person here that I’m pretty sure is younger than me.”

“I didn’t mean to say that offensively.” Lan started to say.

“I know, I just wanted you to know.” I said with a small smile. “So, Lan, what’s your story?” Lan looked at me quizzically.

“What do you mean Lavender?”

“You’re a Vacuole boy conversing with an Atlas Heir. This didn’t seem like the first-time you guys have conversed like this before.”

“Well. For your information this is the first time I’ve spoken to her.” Lan blurted out. “Also, and forgive me if this comes out rude, but I don’t know you. You probably won’t see me as much as you think. You don’t need to know my story.”

“You took much offense to a simple question.” I pouted. “Fine, keep your secrets.”

“Thank you, now if you’ll excuse me.” Lan said in a hurry, running the opposite direction that Weiss and Pyrrha went. He’s an interesting character, and not as open to talk about himself.

* * *

I heard an explosion near the entrance of the school, but I ignored it. I walked towards the last patch of land I haven’t explored yet and found a crowd of people around a table. On that table were two females, one with orange hair and one with red and they were arm wrestling. The red haired was a Dog Faunus, and she had this really dangerous sense to her. Why was she allowed to come to Beacon? During the little contest, I saw her eyes twinkle and her smile was a very devious smile. She beat the orange haired girl.

“Hah!” The Dog Faunus said. “Wanna go again!?”

“Gladly!” The Orange haired girl called back. I saw two people in the background, near a table, and they were watching this unfurl. I walked over to join them. There was a female and a male there. The girl had a bow on top of her head, and her face was in a book. The boy had a pink extension and was watching the bout intensely. They looked unapproachable, but that’s why I wanted to approach them.

“Hi, you guys seem to be the more sensible people in this crowd here. What’s happening?” They both look at me. The guy answers.

“Nora,” He points to the orange haired girl, “Was in the mood to prove she was the strongest female here and the Dog Faunus came up and challenged her.” He let out a sigh, “They’ve been here for about fifteen minutes.”

“What’s the score?”

“12-10. The Dog Faunus is currently in the lead.” The girl says, not looking up from her book.

“You looked unfazed by this.” I said to her. She looked up from her book and at me.

“Did you hear that explosion earlier? I witnessed that as well.”

“Ah, so this is normal to you.” I stated jokingly, I managed to get her to chuckle.

“In a way.” She said, before heading back into her book. I went and sat on top of the table. I watched the match along with the guy.

“Lavender.”

“Blake.” The girl said.

“Ren.” The guy said as well. We heard a loud yell from the table, and the crowd dispersed. Nora looked slightly sad, but the Dog Faunus looked happy. In fact, the dangerous presence I sensed from her was gone.

“Cherri you’re seriously strong!” I heard Nora say, she looked at Ren. “Sorry for making you wait so long.” Ren looked tired, I guess he goes through this a lot too. Nora turns her attention to me. “New friends?”

“More like acquaintances.” Blake said. I guess she didn’t know them. “I’m Blake.” She added.

“Lavender!” I interjected. I stuck my hand out at Nora who shook it.

“Nora, and this here is Cherri.” Nora stated. Cherri waved her hand. She had this really sweet smile on her face, and I noticed that her resting face had her eyes closed. She looks like she can’t even harm a fly. Why _IS_ she at Beacon?

“I’d love to stick and chat, however, we need to get to the training area. The assembly is going to start soon.” Blake cut into my train of thought. She immediately started walking towards the training area. We all started following her in pairs, and I was paired up with Cherri. She was skipping along the path with me.

“Cherri have you always been this carefree?” I asked her. She really looked like she couldn’t fight. I noted the frying pan on her belt but that can’t be her weapon, can it?

“Yep! As long as I can remember.” Cherri said with a laugh.

“God to be so free of problems. I wish I could have that life.” I said.

“Well, why do you need to be serious all the time?” Cherri asked, leaning down with her finger to her mouth, like she was thinking.

“I don’t. I can still act somewhat carefree but.” I thought for a moment. “Have you met Grimm before?”

“Of course I have! Who hasn’t?” She said. I wanted to question her sanity for the moment. But I decided to let it go.

“They can attack at any moment. Maybe not here, but away from here? I don’t want to be carefree around them.” I looked at Cherri, who’s eyes were now open.

“Well, with Grimm involved, or anyone that may harm me, Of course I’m going to be serious.” Cherri started. “I’m going to be serious to those that might harm you too.”

“You hardly know me. Just my name.” I stuttered out. I wasn’t prepared with what she said.

“That’s true, but you still cared about me.” She looked back at me. “Isn’t that why you were asking why I was always so carefree?” She sent me a wink, before skipping ahead. I was flustered but managed to catch up to them.

* * *

When we arrived at the training area, I broke off from them and went to find Ruby, Chris and Yang. I told them I was going to see them later and for some reason I wanted to honor that. Even though they’re the smallest people here, they’re still easy to find. Maybe it’s because of Chris’s hoodie.

“Hello, hello.” I said to the three of them. Yang waved a hello.

“We just got here too; you will not believe what just happened to Ruby.” Chris said to me with a genuine smile on his face.

“I may or may not have blown up.” She said shyly. “There was this girl, and she kept shaking fire dust in my face and I sneezed. The sneeze activated the dust crystal, causing an explosion. She was really mean-spirited and just a downright rude person.”

“YOU!” I heard Weiss say from behind her.

“Oh god it’s happening again!” Ruby screamed and hoped into Yang’s arms.

“You’re lucky we weren’t killed!” Weiss screamed out. I saw Lan behind her watching this happen.

“That was your dust? No wonder I heard it from where I was, and I wasn’t even near the entrance. Very potent.” I said. I wanted to appease her anger and take it away from Ruby. I watched Weiss hear my words and calm down a bit.

“Yeah, they are. That one got wasted.” She looked at Ruby when she said that, angrily, but she turned back to me calmly, “But that’s ok. I still have more.” She turned around towards Lan and walked towards him with her nose in the air. Lan mouthed a thank you to me, before turning his attention to Weiss.

“Thank you, Lavender.” Ruby said to me, getting down from her sister’s arms.

“No problem Ruby. I don’t know how I was able to diffuse the situation that quickly, but I’m glad I did.”

“Oh… that might’ve been because of me.” Chris said quietly.

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“His semblance brings a calm presence, and anyone around him feels that calmness.” Ruby said. “That calmness can overpower the other emotions that we may feel.”

“I can’t exactly silence or turn off my semblance, but I can amplify it.” I heard an argument start from across the room. Cherri and Nora had started to argue, and Cherri was exhibiting her dangerous sense again. I tensed up, but my attention was brought elsewhere when I heard a bird coo from above me. I looked up to look for the bird but didn’t find any. When I looked back at Cherri and Nora, they weren’t arguing anymore, and Cherri was back to her carefree self. I looked at Chris, who was looking at me with a small smile.

“Did you cause them to stop arguing?” I asked him.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” Chris said jokingly. “If you ever hear those birds however, that means that I’m amplifying my semblance.”

“That’s a lovely semblance.” I said to him. A blonde boy sauntered up to us.

“Crater Face!” the boy said to Ruby.

“Vomit boy!” Ruby said back to him.

“Vomit boy?” I whispered to Chris.

“He had airsickness on the airship we were on.” Chris whispered back to me.

“Ohhhhhhh.” I whispered back, I wanted to stifle my laughter, but I couldn’t contain it too well and started to giggle. Vomit boy looked at me and walked towards me.

“I don’t believe we’ve had the honor of meeting.” He said to me, with a hidden suaveness in his voice. “I’m Jaune, please don’t take Vomit boy seriously.”

“Lavender, and I just might.” I said, starting to laugh again.

“Great, that’s another female that I won’t be able to hit on again.” Jaune said.

“That’s probably a good thing Jaune, you probably wouldn’t have been able to handle the rejection.” Ruby joked with him. Suddenly the audio system turns on and we hear feedback, causing us to look at the stage.

“May I have your attention please.” Professor Ozpin said on the microphone. “I’m standing here today to welcome the newest class of students here at Beacon Academy. You’re here today to gain knowledge from us and our peers, but as I look upon you all. I see a vast amount of energy here that needs leading, and your searching for us to lead you. You need to make the first step yourself, however. We are only here to guide.” He stepped away from the mic, and Professor Goodwitch took his spot.

“As some of you may know, you’re staying in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow is your initiation so get some rest. Be ready for tomorrow, you are dismissed.” She left after saying that, leaving some of us confused.

“That didn’t seem like the Ozpin I met.” I said quietly to myself. I saw Chris’s eyes meet mine, which meant he heard me. He nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

When we arrived at the Ballroom, we quickly learned that the environment is incredibly co-ed. We all slept together, change in the same locker rooms. This was the life of someone who wanted to be a benefit to society, to be a huntsman/huntress. I managed to find a spot near Ruby, Chris and Yang. Weiss and Lan were somewhere in the corner of the ballroom, Jaune was sleeping close to us as well, but the rest of the people I met, save Cherri and Blake, were sleeping on the second floor of the building. Ruby looked a little nervous.

“I uh, don’t think dad would approve of the boys.” She stated.

“Your dad allowed me to stay over Ruby.” Chris deadpanned.

“Ok but he knows you, he doesn’t know all the boys here.” Ruby retorted.

“Well I approve, I enjoy the eye candy.” Yang said with a growl.

“Please don’t do that again Yang.” Chris pleaded, causing us to laugh. Ruby suddenly focuses on Blake across the room.

“That’s the girl from earlier.” She stated.

“From the explosion?” I asked her, remembering that Blake said she witnessed one earlier.

“Yeah, how did you know?” Ruby asked me quizzically.

“I met her afterwards with the Dog Faunus over there.” I pointed at Cherri. “She’s really nice and sweet, you’d love her.”

“After what happened earlier today, I’ll need some sweetness.” Ruby said, looking exhausted. “But I want to thank Blake for earlier.”

“Well, follow me than.” I led Yang and Ruby over to meet Blake, Chris was a little bit too timid to go meet her, but he opted to talk to Cherri instead. I don’t really blame him; Blake is unapproachable and a bit hard to talk too if you’re not straightforward.

“Hey Blake, still reading that book I see.” Blake peeks an eye over her book and a small smile appears on her face when she sees me.

“Who’s your posse?” Blake said coolly.

“You actually met one of them today, but she’s being a bit timid, so I decided to help her.” I moved over and revealed Ruby and Yang. Blake’s eyes narrow on Ruby, before realizing where she met her from.

“Aren’t you the girl who exploded in front of the school?” Blake asks Ruby. Ruby becomes incredibly embarrassed.

“Y-yeah that’s me.” She stammered. “I wanted to thank you for helping me out there.”

“Of course.”

“I’m Yang, her sister. I like your bow!” Yang said to her.

“Thanks.” Blake said curtly. She returned to her book, which caused Ruby to get curious.

“What’s your book about?”

“It’s about a man with two souls.” Blake said plainly, before continuing to read. Ruby was fascinated though.

“I like to read.” Ruby stated to Blake, causing Blake to look up from her book.

“What do you like to read?” Blake asked her.

“My favorite books are the hero stories Yang used to read to me as a kid. It’s what inspired me to be a huntress.”

“That’s very noble of you, sadly the real world isn’t like the fairy tales.” Blake said in surprise. I was also surprised by what Ruby said. She sounded innocent and pure.

“Well, it’s our job to make it that way, right?” Ruby asked. Ruby and Blake continued to talk, and I saw that Chris was back on his sleeping bag, so I decided to join him. Chris saw me and smiled.

“How was talking to Cherri?” I asked him as I sat down.

“You were right when you said she was incredibly nice. I really wasn’t prepared for that.” Chris than ponders a moment. “She seems very wise, it’s weird that she’s so carefree.”

“Who knows! Maybe she is holding some dark secret.” I said jokingly. Chris laughed along with me.

“Who isn’t at this point,” Chris laughed out. “Besides well, Ruby at least.”

“You seem well acquainted with them; how did you guys meet?” I asked him.

“We went to Signal Academy together.” I saw Chris’s eyes shift towards a group of students on the floor. They were all male, I remember seeing them earlier, sneering at Cherri when she was arm wrestling Nora. I made a small inference to that small gesture.

“You don’t need to talk to me about it if it’s uncomfortable to talk about.” I said to him seriously.

“No, it’s ok, I’ve already beat him once, so he’s left me alone for now.” He said with a weak smile. “The one with the slicked back hair is Cardin. He was my bully all throughout my time at Signal, hell even before then. One day while he was bullying me, Yang came and stepped in. Cardin first tried to make fun of me for having a girl fight my battles, but when Yang punched him in the gut, he realized that she wasn’t someone to mess with. Then, He would only bully me if he was sure she wasn’t around.” He took a deep breath. I realized that this was hard for him to re-live through.

“Really, you don’t have to share with me if your uncomfortable.” I reiterated to him.

“Hey, if another person knows, I’ll feel better.” He said to me weakly. He continued his story. “Eventually Ruby stepped in to help me as well, and while she wasn’t as physical, she was loud. Her voice is easily recognizable, which always allowed Yang to listen for her. If Ruby heard or saw me get bullied, she would call Yang, and Yang would berate Cardin.” I heard him chuckle. “Cardin was so scared of Yang punching him that he’d rather pick and fight his battles with me than face her.” I heard him take a breath again. “Eventually, Ruby and Yang became the older sisters I’ve never had.”

“Older?” I looked at Ruby, who is already pretty young looking.

“How old do you think I am Lavender?” Chris said with a chuckle.

“I don’t know, I honestly thought you were 17.” This caused Chris to laugh loudly. Lan came over to us.

“Hey, some people are attempting to get some sleep.” He said, before realizing who he was talking too. “Lavender.”

“Hey Lan, sorry.”

“It’s cool. Keep it down.” He said curtly, before going back to his sleeping spot. Chris looked at me curiously.

“It’s kind of weird how we met.” I explained awkwardly. Chris put his hand up.

“A story for another time.” He than looked at me with a small smile. “I’m fourteen by the way.”

“Oh god your young.” I said to him in surprise. “Why are you here?”

“Why else would I be here Lavender, to be a Huntsman.” He said seriously. “Just because I’m fourteen doesn’t mean I can’t fight like you. Remember I took out the burliest man over in that group.” He deadpanned.

“I can’t argue with facts.”

That’s when I hear a loud noise come from where I left Blake, Ruby and Yang. Weiss has joined them now and is currently yelling at them to be quiet. Ruby acquiesced immediately and her and Yang came over and sat down. Blaze blew out her candle she kept lit to read, and the Ballroom becomes dark. I wasn’t exactly out of my nocturnal habits yet, so I ended up lying awake and thinking about my future here.

I really hope I’m doing the right thing coming here instead of staying with Astra. I might have already made friends, but it’s different being here than being in the Clan.

I hope I’m doing this right.


	7. Players and Pieces, Emerald Forest, The First Step.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first few Canon episodes of the Fic.

**Chris**

It was weird waking up to a setting that was unfamiliar to me. The Ballroom was still quiet, most of my new classmates were still sleeping. We have our initiation today, and from how Professor Goodwitch told us about it, it’s going to be pretty serious. I decided to use this moment to go get ready for the day, and to practice my archery. I noticed Lavender stir beside me, and her eyes flicker open. I put my finger to her lip, and motion for her to follow me. I decided to strike a conversation while we were getting ready.

“Morning Lavender, sleep well?” I asked her. She yawned in response. “I’ll take that as a no.” I laughed out.

“I’m not much of a morning person.” Lavender said while getting ready. She yawned again. “Being a night owl is kind of hard. I really didn’t get a lot of sleep; it was more like a nap.

“Well, I am a morning person.” I said to her. “Thanks to going to Signal my body is just kind of used to waking up really early. I’m sorry to hear about your nap though.”

“Nah, it’s ok. I normally end up getting about an hour or so of sleep anyways.” Lavender said nonchalantly.

“You say that like it’s a good thing.” I said to her, I grabbed Atelia from my temporary locker. I flashed my weapon to Lavender, “You wanna watch me train?”

“Gladly.”

* * *

We went to the Training area and set up makeshift targets to fire at. I set them close to the wall, and I walked to the opposite wall.

“So, tell me about your weapon.” Lavender said to me.

“My weapon is named Atelia, not to be weird but I sometimes will refer to it as a she or her. I created the weapon at Signal, but I already knew how to use at least one part of the weapon.” I loaded an arrow into Atelia. “I’m going to fire three arrows consecutively. Each is going to hit the bullseye.” I announced to her. It was the same thing I announced at my Signal Academy entry exam. I shot the first arrow directly in the middle of the bullseye. The second was a little of center, but still a bullseye, nonetheless. When I fired the third arrow, I aimed for the one in the center, hoping to split the arrow. I achieved my goal and when I looked at Lavender, her mouth was wide open.

“You like Archery?” Lavender asked me. I nodded my head.

“I was named a Child Prodigy here in Vale. Only the best huntsman and huntresses could beat me in Archery, otherwise I was undefeated.” I chuckled a bit. “I guess my fame didn’t reach the other kingdoms, not with Pyrrha Nikos still around in Argus.”

“That’s still really good Chris, I wouldn’t diminish your abilities because of fame.” Lavender said to me. I loaded another arrow, this time filled with ice dust. I fired it at one of the other targets we had set up. The ice froze the target over. “There’s dust involved too?”

“Makes me more dangerous doesn’t it?” I chuckle.

“Well, it would be hard to fight you. But I don’t think you’re dangerous.” Lavender said as she laughed at my comment. I saw her eyes start darting around the training area.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her, she put her finger to her mouth.

“Keep training, I think there’s someone here.” Lavender said. I continued practicing my Archery. I fired about two arrows before Lavender untensed. She looked up at the bleacher seats and I looked up with her. Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch was there watching us. When they realized that they were seen, Ozpin waved to us. It was Goodwitch that spoke.

“I see some students are taking initiation seriously.” She said with a stern look on her face. “Thank you for being diligent students. Initiation will begin momentarily, please join your peers in the Locker Room, we’ve already woken them up.”

“Thank you!” Lavender yelled out to them. I went to go clean up the targets, but they started floating as I approached. I noticed Professor Goodwitch with a riding crop in her hand.

“I can deal with this, children.” She said with a small smile on her face. “Please go.”

“Yes ma’am.” I stammered out. Lavender and I went into the locker room and found Yang and Ruby.

“Where were you two?” Yang asked me. She noticed Atelia in my hands, I forgot to put her away. “Training?” I nodded my head.

“Has he always been a show-off?” Lavender said to Yang. I blushed a little bit.

“Not always. When it comes to Archery, he’s all about showboating though.” Yang said, sticking her tongue out at me.

“Ok, stop, your embarrassing me.” I said with my head in my hands.

“I can’t embarrass you as hard as Jaune is embarrassing himself over there.” Yang said pointing to Jaune. He was talking to Weiss and Pyrrha, and it looked like he was hitting on Weiss.

“Of all the people he could have chosen, he chooses Snow Angel.” Yang said, disappointed. When we saw Weiss and Pyrrha leave, we walked up to him.

“What am I doing wrong? Women love confident men.” Jaune said to us.

“Snow Angel wasn’t the best person to start with.” Yang said to him.

“Besides, there’s plenty of fish in the sea!” Ruby said to him. “Come on Jaune, we need to get going.” She continued to say, dragging Jaune with us.

* * *

When we arrived at the cliff, I noticed we were overlooking the Emerald Forest. In the far back I could make out a little ruin area. There were these pads on the ground, and Professor Ozpin had us choose the pad we wanted to use. I ended up between Ruby and Lavender, Jaune had taken the one next to Lavender and Yang next to Ruby. I noticed Cherri was next to this girl named Nora, who was next to this guy named Ren. I never personally met them, but both Cherri and Lavender told me about them. Lan, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Blake were near the first set of launchers. I couldn’t find Cardin, but Russel was behind us, so he was probably going to be in the second wave of initiates after us. Professor Ozpin cleared his throat to get our attention.

“Listen up as I’ll only say this once. We will be launching you into the Emerald Forest with the launchers under your feet. You are expected to land using your own Landing Strategy. This forest is teeming with Grimm, and they will not hesitate to kill you. At the opposite end of this cliff are ruins, and in these ruins are relics. You are to retrieve these relics and bring them here. Your initiation will be complete then.” Professor Goodwitch than spoke.

“We know you all heard the rumor of teams; well today will be the day you all learn your teammates. The partnerships you form will last the four-years you’ll be here attending Beacon. I want to stress that you should partner up with someone who you work well with. That being said, your first teammate on your team will be the first person you lock eyes with within the forest, and they will be your partner for the next four-years.” I heard Ruby groan next to me, and I started to feel afraid of who I might meet in the Forest to be my partner. Best case scenario would be those around me.

“You will be monitored and graded by the administration, but they will not intervene. There’s going to be a relic for each pair. Once you have completed your task, we’ll regard the item and grade you accordingly. Any questions?” Jaune very timidly rose his hand, but Ozpin disregarded it. “Good! Take your positions.”

We all crouched down; I took out my weapon in preparation of being launched. I heard ticking coming from where Weiss was positioned, and she was launched into the air. Jaune starts stammering as he’s talking to Ozpin, completely missing people being launched into the air.

“So, this landing strategy… are you, like, dropping us off?” Blake and Lan get launched.

“No, you will be falling.” Ozpin deadpanned. I know I needed to be serious, but I heard Lavender stifle a chuckle, which made me want to laugh as well. Cherri, Nora and Ren are launched.

“So, are you handing us parachutes or something?” Jaune said, trying to grasp at straws. I missed what was said by Ozpin however, Yang, Ruby, Lavender and I were launched in quick succession into the forest. I soared into the sky, feeling the wind blow my hair around felt great. I saw Weiss use her glyphs to help her descend, she looked really elegant. I saw Cherri unfurl her Pan and a scope appeared. She fired below her, controlling her descent using the shots from her weapon. Lan had spread his arms out, his weapon a pair of fans. He was soaring through the air, like he was flying. I definitely saw Pyrrha bust through some trees and then saved Jaune from dying from his inevitable death. Lastly, Lavender had used her cloak like a parachute, allowing herself to fall slowly and controlled. The last thing I remembered was her using her weapon like climbing picks.

I used the whip portion of Atelia to grab onto a branch and swung from it, eventually landing onto the forest floor. Once on the ground, I was greeted immediately by an Ursa. It was sleeping, but who knows what’ll happen to wake it up. I decided to dispatch of it quickly, piercing it with an arrow. It dissipated into the air, and I continued to move towards the ruins.

_“Ruby or Yang, Ruby or Yang, Ruby or Yang.”_ I kept repeating in my head. If I was going to be partnered up with someone, it must be them. I know I wanted to get this done quickly, but I think without a partner it’s kinda useless to try and complete the mission. I heard a Grimm scream to my right, and I ran over to see the commotion. Lavender was there and she had just pierced an Ursa through its skull with her weapon. It looked like a needle, which was interesting. I hid behind the tree when Lavender appeared in my vision. While she was a fast friend for me, I still am not as comfortable with her than I am with Ruby or Yang.

“Chris, I know your there. I can sense you.” Lavender called from behind the tree. I came out with my eyes close, causing Lavender to laugh. “Come on now Chris, I know that I’m not Ruby or Yang, but at least I’m the best thing you got.” I opened my eyes and met hers.

“I know, I’m sorry. You’re still one of the best-case scenarios, I-” I started before Lavender rose her hand to stop me.

“You’re ok Chris, really. You don’t have to explain your reasoning to me.” She said to me.

“Thanks, sorry.” I stammered out embarrassed. This got really awkward really fast.

“Well, now that we have partners, shall we continue?” Lavender said, with a genuine smile on her face.

“Lets!” I said, and we ran towards the ruins.

* * *

**Cherri**

_“Ursa on your left.”_ Rasp said, I quickly sniped it. I haven’t ran into anybody yet, and I can see about how close I am to the ruins, so I just ended up roaming around it until someone appears in front of me. I was excited, so I couldn’t help smiling. _“If anyone saw you right now, they’d think your deranged.”_ Rasp joked.

“Can I not smile?” I said aloud, with no one around I could talk to Rasp without looking like I’m insane.

_“Probably not while your killing Grimm. You smile too sweetly, it looks disturbing.”_ Rasp explained while laughing.

“Your smile isn’t any different. Yours is more mischievous than anything else.” I said to her.

_“Ursa right.”_ I sniped in that direction; I heard the Ursa roar. _“It’s still alive.”_

“Got it!” I said, I ran towards it and, with Wynlansion, I struck its head. It was still alive however, but I heard a shot ring out from somewhere else. When the Ursa fell, a male with light skin appeared. His hair was blue, and I’ve seen him around Weiss Schnee.

“I guess we’re partners now.” The male said. “I’m Lan Mei.”

“Cherri Micks!” I said to him happily. It was a good feeling finally having a partner.

“Where are you from?” Lan asked me.

“Oh! I’m from Atlas. Specif-” I started to say, but I saw Lan’s face scrunch up. “Is there a problem?” I asked him. He ignored my question and just beckoned me to walk with him.

“I can’t believe I have to work with an Atlas Dog.” I heard him mutter under his breath. I felt my ears perk up.

_“Rasp quickly before my semblance takes over, this is your partner do not har-”_ I quickly tried to say to her before I lost control of my consciousness. I couldn’t get everything out, but I really hope she got the message.

* * *

I quickly maintained Cherri’s appearance when I took control. I shot a sniper shot past his ear.

“Hey! We’re partners aren’t we!” Lan said, scared. I nodded my head to him. “Then what was that for?”

“For calling me a dog, under your breath.” I said to him. His eyes grew wide, I guess he forgot that some Faunus’ have great hearing. “I don’t appreciate attacks on my heritage. Be happy that I didn’t injure you. Most who insult me using dog or worst, _mutt,_ ” I said with poison in my words, “Don’t end up living to tell the tale.” I heard Lan gulp.

“Noted. I apologize profusely, really I do.” Lan said. He was still scared, but I could tell his apology was genuine. I untensed, which normally deactivates the semblance, but for some reason it wasn’t happening. It must be the forest, there’s still Grimm everywhere. I couldn’t help but feel the awkwardness between Lan and I, but then again, who’s fault is that?

“Let’s just focus on the task at hand.” I told him, walking towards the ruins. Lan followed behind me.

“I don’t exactly like the people of Atlas.” I heard Lan say behind me. He still sounded scared, like I really was going to hurt him. “When I said Atlas Dog, I was more putting emphasis on the fact you were from Atlas, not because you’re a Dog Faunus.”

“I guess it’s a little easier to forgive you if your problem is with Atlas. I may have lived there all my life, but that doesn’t exactly mean I agree with the things they are doing there.” I said to him, offering him a smile. He hung out with Weiss, so I wanted to question him, but I realized how bad I was making Cherri look, and I needed to dumb down my aggressive tone for the moment.

We arrived at the Ruins. Somehow, we were the first ones there. Before we touched the platform to look at the relics, Blake and Chris’s friend, Yang, appeared behind us.

“I guess we’re not the first ones here huh.” Yang said to Blake, before turning her attention to the Relics.

“Chess pieces?” Lan questioned. Yang walked up to the knight piece.

“How about this little horsey?” Yang called out to Blake. Blake rolled her eyes but had a small smile on her face.

“Sure.”

I studied the pieces we had left. They were all the white pieces of the chest board. I looked at Lan.

“Should we just grab the Bishop?” I asked him. He nodded his head. I went and took the piece.

“Alright, now that the mission is complete, we can head back.” Yang said to us. We all nodded our heads and started to move away from the platform. That’s when we heard a girlish scream come from somewhere in the forest. “Some girl is in trouble! We have to help.” I also heard screaming coming from above us, and Blake heard it too. I looked up and saw Chris’s other friend, Ruby.

“Heads up!” She said as she was falling. She was going to land on us too, if this blonde boy didn’t fly into her. They both ended up landing on a tree nearby, knocked out.

“Did your sister just fall from the sky?” Blake asked Yang.

Nora then appears, riding the back of an Ursa before killing it when she noticed she was at her destination. Ren was following her, and he looked tired. Nora appeared next to the podium with the Rook piece. She picks up the piece in glee.

“I’m queen of the castle! I’m queen of the castle!” She said in a sing-song voice.

“NORA!” Ren yelled at her, causing Nora to giggle.

“Coming Ren!” She said, with the Rook piece in her hand.

“Did-did she ride in on the Ursa?” Lan asked me. That’s when we saw Pyrrha run in with a Deathstalker on her tail, she barely avoided its claws but she’s still good. Ruby finally came too, and she appeared right next to us, hugging her sister. We looked back at Pyrrha.

“You have to have endurance to run with a Deathstalker on your tail.” I said aloud. Finally, Chris and Lavender appeared, I felt the ground rumble and realized that a King Taijitu was behind them. I saw Chris let loose an ice arrow at it, which is probably the reason why they’re still alive right now. Lavender appeared beside me, leaving Chris to fight the giant snake Grimm. I caught Lavender side-eyeing me as she approached so I tried my best to imitate Cherri’s smile.

“CAN WE GO TWO SECONDS WITHOUT ANYTHING HAPPENING PLEASE. EVERYONE CHILL!” Yang said angrily. I saw her eyes go from their usual purple color to red, which probably meant she’s angry. Blake and I looked up at a Nevermore, noticing one more body on it. After what felt like two seconds happened, Ruby spoke.

“Umm… Yang?” she said quietly. When I looked around, I noticed the only person who wasn’t here in the first wave of initiates was Weiss. Weiss was the other body on that Nevermore

“How could you leave me up here!” Weiss yelled out to us, specifically Ruby.

“I told you to jump!” Ruby yelled back.

“She’s going to fall.” Lavender deadpanned.

“She’ll be fine…” Ruby said, trailing the word fine.

“She’s falling.” Both Ren and Blake said together. Weiss is literally freefalling in the air. Lan and I prepare to catch her on the ground, but the blonde boy came too while he was on the tree and he jumped from it and caught Weiss. He forgot about the law of gravity though, so he plummeted to the ground. Weiss still ended up being unharmed from the fall, but she landed on the boy. I heard Ruby snicker,

“Well, you did save her Jaune.” Ruby said, attempting to help him. Weiss rolled her eyes at Jaune.

“My hero.” She said sarcastically. Chris and Pyrrha were blown back by their respective opponents, but luckily were unharmed and still able to fight.

“Great! the gangs all here! Now we can all die together!” Yang said sarcastically. Ruby readies her weapon.

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” She takes off towards the Deathstalker, firing shots from her weapon at it. She attempts to slice at it with the melee part of her weapon, a…Scythe? This little girl is a scythe user? That’s actually pretty sweet! The Deathstalker knocked her back though, forcing Ruby to waste time to get up. The Deathstalker was on her though, causing Ruby to run when she realized what she was up against. Yang and Chris took off to go help Ruby, but the Nevermore above us had fire its feathers at us, which if it had hit us head on, would’ve done massive damage.

The Nevermore blocked our path of advancement, as well as trapping Ruby under its feather, making it prime bait for the Deathstalker. The Deathstalker attempts to sting Ruby, but out of nowhere a white blur appears, freezing the Deathstalker’s tail to the ground.

“You are _SO_ childish.” Weiss said, appearing next to Ruby. “ _And_ dim-witted, _and_ hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit... _difficult_... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So, if _you_ quit trying to show off, I'll be... _nicer_.”

“I’m not trying to show off… I’m just trying to show you I can do this.” Ruby said to her. Weiss helped Ruby up.

“You’re fine.” She said, leaving Ruby and joining us again. Ruby looks at the Deathstalker in surprise, seeing it struggle trapped. Yang ran over and hugged Ruby tight and they both joined the little gathering we were having. I noticed that the King Taijitu was nowhere to be found, but for some reason it wasn’t attacking us.

“What’s the plan?” Lan asked us. “The Nevermore is about to circle around, and the Taijitu disappeared.

“Well, our mission objective is right in front of us.” Weiss stated.

“She’s right. Let’s just grab the relics and head back to the cliff.” Ruby seconded. I let out a groan, hoping for it to be inaudible. I wanted to fight, but I didn’t want to force everyone here to fight if they didn’t want too. Nora giggled a bit, and I realized she had heard me. She winked at me though, so she probably shared the same sentiment.

“Live to fight another day, that’s an idea I can get behind.” Jaune said to us. Lavender, Jaune and Ruby go and grab the last of the white pieces left: Bishop, Rook and Knight respectively.

“Let’s move out!” Ruby and Lavender called out. I noticed Yang smiling at Ruby. Both Blake and I shared the same look and continued running with them. We managed to make it to the cliffside, and there was an even bigger ruin. It resembled more of a temple or a hub, but there were dilapidated structures everywhere. It still held fortifications though, which was interesting.

The Nevermore was perched at the top of the temple, forcing all of us to hide in pairs. I was with Chris, with Ren and Nora behind us and Weiss and Blake ahead of us. We heard movement in the forest, and the Deathstalker had appeared behind us.

“Shit, we gotta go!” I yelled out.

“Nora distract the Nevermore!” Ren called out to her. Chris dashed from next to me and both him and Nora ran into the center of the field. As we ran forward, Chris and Nora dodged the flying feathers that the Nevermore shot at them and Nora, with her Grenade Launcher, fired upon the Nevermore. Chris shot fire arrows at it, hoping to distract it long enough that it won’t attack us. The Deathstalker had caught up to the both of them, but Blake and Ren had crossed sliced its shell, and Lan had shot at it. I took this time to grab Chirs with Wynlansion and bring him to me, and Weiss used her glyphs to pick up Nora, causing Blake, Lan and Ren to be the ones being chased. While running, the King Taijitu appeared from the ground next to us, hoping to trap one of us into the ground. Luckily, none of us fell, and I created a fireball to hurl at the snake. The fireball landed on it, dazing it.

We kept running towards our destination, but we didn’t notice the Nevermore swooping in. It destroyed the bridge we needed to be on to get to the cliff, splitting us up. I ended up passed the bridge along with Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Nora and Jaune. Lavender, Chris, Lan, Blake, Pyrrha and Ren were on the other side, dealing with the King Taijitu and Deathstalker. They both were hard to handle, and they both were able to knock Blake and Lavender off them.

“We have to help them!” Jaune states.

“Let’s do this!” Nora said, Jaune looks down at the ground.

“Yeah, I can’t make that jump.” Jaune stated. I noticed what Nora was going to do, and I went and joined the two of them. Nora smiled at Jaune evilly and hit him back with her weapon. She revealed the full force of her weapon, a hammer. I smirked at Nora. I love her choice of weapon immensely. I readied myself, and Nora turns around and smashed the end of the bridge, tilting it and launching both Jaune and I to the other Grimm. Jaune flailed through the air, but Nora and I were controlled. We looked at each other with a grin and launched ourselves from the falling debris using our weapon. I decided to go for the King Taijitu, Attacking the white head. Chris and Lan took this time to blow the King Taijitu away from the other giant Grimm.

“Cherri, Chris, cover Lan and I!” Lavender called out. The Taijitu tried to come back to our position, but Chris shot him back. Lan and Lavender decided to stick together instead of splitting up, allowing Chris and I to focus on making sure none of the heads get a chance to attack. I saw Lavender throw her needles at the snake, harming it but not killing it. I shot at the White head to protect Lan and he threw one of his fans, which managed to slice the snake from head to head like a buzz saw. I saw Chris fire three ice arrows at the snake, hitting the middle of the snake, and the middle of the white and dark snake respectively. I decided to end this by making it rain fire.

“It’s going to get hot real soon!” I called to them, making the fireball. “Back up!” Lavender and Lan backed away and I lobbed the ball into the air. Lan used his twin pistols, charged with fire dust, making the fireball bigger. I aimed at the fireball, but Chris had put his hand on my shoulder. He fired a combustion arrow, causing the fireball to make an audible noise as it exploded, raining fire. The Taijitu roasted, eventually dissipating.

“Great teamwork you guys!” Chris called out, we all exchanged high fives. Lavender looked embarrassed.

“Sorry, it’s hard for me to fight Grimm since I have to be so close.” She said, showing her weapon. I recognized them immediately, they are an assassin’s weapon. The other two marveled at them, and obviously if she doesn’t want to share that information yet, she doesn’t have too.

“We should probably go help the others.” Lan said, prompting me to look over at the others.

“Well, our friends fighting the Deathstalker are done.” I said to them, pointing at Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. “and it looks like our other friends are just about done. We’re about to see the finale.” I added, pointing to the cliff. It was hard to see, but I saw faint glyphs on the wall. We watched Ruby hook the Nevermore with her scythe, and her running up the cliff till, finally, decapitating the bird at the top. Immediately after, my consciousness started to dull, and I realized that Cherri’s semblance was finally deactivating. It felt weird having her body for so long, so I actually felt happy going back to how it’s supposed to be. I allowed my consciousness to fade and my vision went black.

* * *

When I finally had control of my body, I saw Lan, Chris and Lavender celebrating. I saw a decapitated Nevermore fall from the cliff. I looked at the others and smiled. Lavender seemed to untense, even though we weren’t fighting anymore.

_“Recap of what happened: Lan knows not to use the word mutt or call you a dog as a derogatory term, we have the white bishop piece. We fought a King Taijitu and won. We’re a fucking boss.”_ Rasp said, sounding proud of herself. _I rained fire on the Snake, just to let you know. I also may have scared Lan shitless._

I turned to Lan. “I apologize for what I did in the forest. It might have been a little bit uncalled for.”

“Don’t be.” He said emphatically. “I didn’t use my words correctly and ended up insulting you personally, I take full responsibility.” I couldn’t help but smile at him. “That being said, I’d rather you not shoot my ear off next time I insult you personally again.” Lan said laughing.

When we arrived at Beacon after the initiation, Ozpin had us and the other students crowd into auditorium, where we were met with applause. They must be happy we made it back from initiation.

“Nice job flambéing the King Taijitu back there!” A girl with shades and a cute beret on said to me. She had her hand up for a high-five, so I gave her one.

_“They must have been watching us.”_ Rasp said to me. I gave her a small affirmation. I could see some students that feared us too, and I’ve seen them before harming other Faunus around campus. Maybe they’ll learn not to mess with us in the future. Ozpin took the podium, and instead of introducing what’s happening he just went straight into it.

“Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. You all retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forth, you’ll be known as Team JNPR, led by… Jaune Arc! Congratulations young man.” A surprised Jaune and an ecstatic Pyrrha, who punched Jaune in her happiness, made a good laugh.

“Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose, and Yang Xiao Long. You all retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forth, you’ll be known as Team RWBY, led by… Ruby Rose!” Weiss looked surprised and a little bit angry, but the others were happy at least.

“Finally, Chris Anthemum, Lan Mei, Cherri Micks, and Lavender Thyme. You all retrieved the White Bishop pieces. From this day forth, you’ll be known as Team LLCC, (Lilac) led by… Lavender Thyme!” We all congratulated her, but Lan looked a bit annoyed. Are we going to have another problem? Ozpin ended the ceremony with a cryptic ending.

“This is shaping up to be an interesting year…


	8. Breakfast with Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the Morning of our first day of classes, and Ruby came up with a great idea.

**Lan**

“-Cuo, you’re impossible to wake up.” I heard someone say. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Lavender above me. “Ah, the princess awakes!” She states, I looked around and saw Chris and Cherri were already in their school uniforms, as well as Lavender.

“Wake up sleepy pants!” Cherri said to me. “You might miss out on breakfast if you don’t.” She continued to say, winking at me.

“Speaking of, are you going to Team JNPR’s dorm to cook with them? Nora told me Ren is an excellent cook.” Lavender said to Cherri. She nodded her head and left the dorm.

Somehow, Team RWBY and JNPR were just a few dorm rooms away from ours, with our room being at the end of the hallway. We were the closest to the classrooms, so I can’t exactly complain.

“Why is Cherri making breakfast with Ren?” I asked groggily. I slowly got up and went into our shared bathroom. I left the door open so Lavender and Chris can talk to me while I was getting ready. I started to brush my teeth.

“We’re celebrating getting into Beacon, it was Ruby’s idea.” Chris said timidly. I didn’t understand why he was scared of me, but I’m not going to push him to not be. It’ll probably just backfire in my face. “Plus, y’know, surviving initiation, as well as first day of classes.” He stated. My eyes grew wide and I ran into our dorm room with toothpaste foam in my mouth. I looked at the time.

“Relax, it’s only 7. Our first class starts at 9.” Lavender said nonchalantly. I rolled my eyes and went back into the bathroom. I finished brushing my teeth and head back into the dorm to grab my school uniform. As I started to change, I noticed Chris and Lavender staring at me.

“Take a picture, I’m sure it’ll last longer.” I jokingly said. Chris got embarrassed and looked away, with his face flushed red. It was kind of cute, not gonna lie. Lavender also looked away, but she more or less did it out of courtesy than embarrassment.

“I’m not the one who changed out in the open when there’s a whole bathroom you can use.” Lavender retorted back. I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Touché.” I said to her, buttoning up the last button on my blazer. It felt weird being in something so stiff and restricting, but I guess it’s etiquette.

“We should start heading towards the Ballroom.” Chris said aloud. “That’s where Ruby said to meet up at.”

“Why not the dining room?” I asked him, he held up his hands and shrugged.

“Second Years are going to be having breakfast soon.” Lavender said. “I saw members of Team CFVY in there talking.” Ah, Team CFVY. They’re the best team in their year I heard. I hope I get to see them in action. I saw Lavender and Chris pack up their school things, I decided to do the same. We left from our dorm and entered the Ballroom.

* * *

Once there, Nora had greeted us with an enormous grin.

“PANCAkesssss…..” She trailed off, once she realized that it wasn’t Ren or Cherri. She started to pout.

“Sorry about her, she’s been excited for breakfast ever since we woke up this morning.” Pyrrha apologized to us. I saw Weiss with Blake and Yang, conversing; Ruby must be with Ren and Cherri.

“It’s ok, I’m starving as well.” Lavender laughed off, before joining the group. They had taken a table and managed to squeeze 12 chairs onto it. The table wasn’t small however, so we were going to have space to eat. I saw an empty chair next to Weiss and walked over to it.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked her suavely. Weiss chuckled quietly and shook her head no. I took a seat.

“Did you know about this?” Weiss asked me.

“I was just about to ask you the same question. I guess we were left out of the loop.” I said jokingly.

“More like you both fell asleep before we made the plans.” Chris said as he took the seat next to me, “initiation was tiring so I don’t blame you guys.”

“And here I thought you were scared of me.” I thought aloud, I saw Chris recoil. “Sorry, that probably wasn’t the best thing to say.”

“I’m trying to work on my timidness, it’s a large work-in-progress.” He said quietly. “This gathering is a little too much for me still…”

“It’s ok Chris, Social Anxiety can be a real bitch sometimes.” I said to him assuredly. I understand the feeling, I couldn’t stand being around my parents when we were in Atlas, they always brought crowds of people with them. Weiss nodded her head as well, understanding the sentiment. “We’re teammates, you don’t have to be timid around me.” I smiled at him. He smiled back at me and nodded his head.

“Besides, you do happen to be surrounded by a ton of great people.” Weiss added with a smile.

“I agree with you there.” Chris laughed out. “I still don’t really know what to make of Team JNPR though, Jaune’s the only one that I really talk too.”

“Pyrrha is incredibly nice. You’ll love her.” Weiss said to him. “I haven’t had a conversation with Ren and Nora yet so they’re still on the fence. But Ren is cooking for us so I’m sure he isn’t all that bad.” She added.

“Is Snow Angel being nice?” Yang said aloud, mocking Weiss.

“Haha, very funny.” Weiss said sarcastically, making Yang stick out her tongue. Chris and I chuckled a little bit at their exchange.

“Thank you, Weiss,” Chris said, “You’re not as bad as a person than you put out to be.” Weiss blushes at his statement.

It’s not everyday that others see Weiss like this, I’m normally the only one to see her like this, A perk of being her only friend, I guess. I hope her being here will break down more of her walls.

Ren and Cherri enter the building with a large stack of pancakes on a plate in each hand, Ruby trailed behind them with orange juice, milk and syrup. Jaune was also behind them with Chocolate and strawberry syrup, probably for the milk. I didn’t even notice that he wasn’t here. Cherri put down her plates and ran out to grab a larger plate to put down. They stacked all the pancakes down onto the larger plate and set that down in the center of the table. Ruby, after putting all the drinks away and the maple syrup with the pancakes, found her seat next to Yang and spoke.

“Thank you all for coming! I’m glad that we can spend our first day here at Beacon together. Thank you, Ren and Cherri, for making these deliciously smelling pancakes, I cannot wait to dig in.”

“ME NEITHER!” Nora yelled out, causing all of us to laugh. Ruby continued to speak.

“Here’s to a great year and many more to come. Before we start, Ren do you want to tell us what kind of pancakes we have?”

“Sure. There’s regular pancakes, blueberry, cinnamon and chocolate chip. Cherri made the cinnamon and regular pancakes; I choose blueberry and chocolate chip. There should be enough for all of us to have 2 of each, if we so choose to have that much.” Ren said. I saw him side-eye Nora, who started to whistle. Cherri interjected for a bit.

“Fair warning, the cinnamon pancakes have paprika in them.” This caused a bit of chatter. “Sorry, I enjoy a spicy cinnamon flavor.” She said smiling.

“Well, that’s why we have the options that we have for drinks!” Ruby chuckled. “Let’s eat!”

Nora quickly grabbed pancakes, making her stack more than 8 pancakes high. Ren quickly caught her, forcing Nora to put the extra ones back. I decided to grab one of each with an extra blueberry pancake, I wanted to give them all a try.

“You grabbed a cinnamon pancake?” Chris asked me, “Good luck Lan.” He said laughing, “I could never have something spicy with something sweet.”

“Neither can I, but I wanted to try it.” I told him. “If I don’t like it, I could always give it to Nora anyways. I’m sure she can eat more than we all can combine.” This caused both him and Weiss to laugh. I grabbed the syrup and dripped it a little on the regular pancake, carefully so It didn’t reach the other pancakes. I wanted to taste those without any additives. I took a taste of the syrupped pancake, an overwhelming taste of sweetness and fluffiness entered my mouth. I couldn’t help but gobble down the rest of it quickly. I got Cherri’s attention and gave her a thumbs up for the regular pancakes. They were delicious.

I ate half of the chocolate chip pancake, before the chocolate got a little bit too much for me to handle. I offered the other half to Chris, who had just finished his last chocolate chip pancake. He had already eaten his other chocolate chip pancake.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” He asked me with an eyebrow raised.

“I love how it tastes, but I’m not a big fan of chocolate. I saw you devour your chocolate chip pancakes so I wanted to know if you wanted my half.” I said to him. Chris smiled, used his fork to grab the pancake and quickly ate it. “Do you want my second pancake too?” Chris’s eyes widened.

“Are you sure?” He asked me. I nodded my head.

“If I wasn’t would I have offered it?” I said smiling. “Plus, you seem to really enjoy chocolate.” He blushed a bit, before taking the other pancake. I decided to chow down on the blueberry one next, which I normally save for last. Blueberry is my favorite fruit, so I like to normally have that be my last one down, but I wanted to try Cherri’s cinnamon pancakes last so the taste didn’t ruin the blueberry ones. I took a bite of it, groaned and immediately sank into my chair.

“Is it good Lan?” Weiss said to me laughing. She knows that my favorite fruit is blueberry. I nodded my head.

“I’d kiss Ren if I knew him better. These pancakes are delicious!” I exclaimed loudly. Nora side-eyed me, “Not actually kiss him kiss him, like a platonic cheek kiss or something.” I scrambled to say. Everyone laughed at my statement, and Ren bowed towards me, his way of thanking me. I went up to grab some milk, realizing that I hadn’t drank anything yet. I created strawberry milk and walked back to my seat. When I looked down, I noticed another blueberry pancake and half of one on there. I looked at Chris, who wore a small smile on his face while he was eating. I’ll have to remember to thank him later.

“Weiss, time check.” Ruby asked her, Weiss pulled out her scroll.

“It’s 8.” She answered.

“We have thirty minutes to eat! We’ll need the other 30 to clean up and go to class.” I quickly ate the rest of my blueberry pancakes, gulping down the strawberry milk with it. I drank about half of it and stared down at the cinnamon pancake. I realized that the only people who ate a few was Cherri and Nora, and I’m sure Nora ate it too fast to actually taste it. I noticed everyone staring at me, waiting for my reaction to eating the pancake. I took a bite, my mouth had a burst of spiciness, which was quickly replaced with the sweetness of the cinnamon sugar on the pancake. I felt euphoric, and my face showed.

“Anyone want to try it before I eat it all so you guys can make your decision?” Ren, Yang, Lavender and Ruby raised their hands, so I cut a small portion of my pancake off for them. They all tasted it, and then piled two of the cinnamon pancakes on their plate.

“I’m sorry that I ever doubted you.” Ren said between bites, causing us to laugh.

“It’s no problem! I knew that the pancake was a bit weird for a breakfast pancake. I’m glad you like it!” Cherri said to us with a large smile. I grabbed another cinnamon pancake from the pile, and I finished eating the first one afterwards. After eating about half the second one, I felt Chris tap me.

“Can I try the pancake?” He asked quietly. “I should have asked before I cleaned my plate, but I was still trying to pick up the nerve.”

“Of course.” I said, cutting off a piece of it. I held the fork towards him, which surprised him. He leaned down and took the bite without taking the fork, causing me to laugh. “That wasn’t what I was expecting you to do but alright.” This caused him to blush.

“He did that a lot at Signal, he probably forgot that you weren’t Ruby or I.” Yang said laughing. I noticed Chris eying the rest of my pancake, so I cut half of it for him.

“Here, I’ll eat my half and then I can give you the other half.” I said to him, quickly eating my half so he can have his faster. Once I was done, I passed my plate to him for him to eat. “It’s really good isn’t it?”

“It’s probably my favorite one of all the pancakes, and nothing beats chocolate chip.” Chris said, before he dug in. I went to throw away my cup and Yang came up to me.

“Thank you for being calm and nice with Chris.” She said to me. I waved my hand dismissingly,

“It’s no problem. He’s my teammate, I can’t have him fear me all the time.”

“It’s just good to see him smile, He didn’t do that a lot at Signal.” She said, smiling sadly.

“Well… He had someone there to protect him and help him smile right?” I said to her. She looked a bit surprised, “It’s not hard to see he went through some traumatic stuff. His antlers, well… the lack of them, give it away.” I looked at Chris, who was still finishing up the pancake. “Shouldn’t we be thanking you and Ruby for making sure he got here?” I felt Yang’s shoulders untense.

“Thank you, sorry for getting so serious.” She said to me. “I’m glad he managed to get a team that treat him well.”

“Well, if anybody didn’t treat him well, I’m sure we’ll have to answer to you.” I jokingly said to her, winking. She laughed off what I said. “We’ll protect him if he needs it, but based of his initiation results, he’ll probably be protecting us.” I said with smile.

“Yeah, he probably will be.” She said smiling. Chris walked over and washed off my plate, putting it over with the clean dishes. He noticed Yang and I talking and came up behind Yang.

“What’s happening here?” He asked us, Yang turned around and put him into a headlock.

“Nothing! I wasn’t well acquainted with Lan, so I wanted to get to know him.” Yang said to me. I nodded my head, affirming her little lie. She let go of Chris, who was pouting at Yang.

“You didn’t have to put me in a headlock Yang!” He said childishly. Yang stuck out her tongue, provoking Chris to jump on her back. Of course, given his stature, Yang doesn’t go down and stands straight. She ends up giving him a piggyback ride out of the ballroom. Weiss came behind me.

‘Lan, if you want you can start heading to class. It’s 8:40 now.” She said to me.

“What about you?” I asked her quizzically.

“While you were over here conversing with Yang, we decided who was going to clean. I volunteered, along with Cherri, Ruby, Ren and Lavender. Jaune’s joining us as well.” She chuckled a bit. “We kind of established that with my glyphs, it’ll be easier to get this done.”

“Ah, the practical use of your semblance. An incredible blessing that you inherited it.” I said to her, she smiles a small smile. “I’ll leave you guys to it then, and head to class.”

“Thank you for coming by the way, it would’ve been awful without you here.” She added to me.

“Well, I couldn’t exactly say no, couldn’t I? I didn’t even know it was happening till it was actually happening.” I said laughing. “Now come on, you have to keep up your façade somehow.” Weiss starts to chuckle.

“Will do. Maybe I’ll see you in class.” She said, leaving me to join the others.

As I was walking to class, I couldn’t help but smile to myself.

I guess I can tell mother I’ve made friends now.


	9. Respect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cherri and Blake have an adventure, along with some tribulations on the way.

**Cherri**

_“I never thought I’d be so bored as I am right now, and I’m not even the one in control.”_ Rasp said to me. She yawned, causing me to yawn. I was in Professor Goodwitch’s class along with the rest of my team plus team RWBY and JNPR. She was teaching us about the profession of a huntsman.

“We’ve been surrounded by the Ace Ops so much that this isn’t news to us.” I whispered to her.

 _“She’s just droning on and on, I just can’t wait for the class to-”_ A bell rings, signaling the end of class. _“Thank you!”_

“Reminder! Starting next week, we’ll start training for the tournament during the Vytal Festival. It’s months away, but that doesn’t stop us for preparing for it now. Sparring will also begin next week too, so from now on that’s how our classes with me will be conducted. For now, enjoy the rest of your day.” Professor Goodwitch says before everyone leaves.

“I’m going to walk around Vale for a bit, does anyone want to join me?” Lan announced to all of us. Chris, Lavender, Yang, Weiss, Ruby and all of Team JNPR raised their hands. When Lan looked at me, I shook my head.

“I think I might go nap a bit, I’m a little tired.” I said to him, who shrugged. Lan turned to Blake, who also shook her head.

“I think I might just spend my time reading.” She said with a small smile. The others left us, leaving Blake and I to walk back to our dorm. While we were walking, I noticed Blake keeping a fair amount of distance between us.

“Did I do something wrong Blake?” I asked her, causing Blake’s eyes to widen in response.

“No! It’s not you, I’m just…”

“Not a Faunus person?” I said, I’ve dealt with a good amount of Faunus’s haters to notice the signs.

“It’s not that at all. It’s the uh…” She couldn’t get the words out.

 _“Just tell her that we know she’s a Faunus. It’s not hard for us to spot each other, even when they’re hiding it.”_ Rasp barked at me. I waited until there wasn’t anyone around before I turned to face her, but Blake spoke first.

“Look, I know that you know I’m a Faunus. If you want a specific, I’m a Cat Faunus. I know I shouldn’t exactly be scared of you but it’s hard not being afraid of dogs, both Faunus and actual dogs.” She said quickly.

“I guess I’ll be your helper in breaking that fear.” I said, my tail wagging. I took her hand and dragged her across Beacon.

“At this point I can’t exactly say no.” She said monotonously. Although her voice didn’t express it, she was smiling a bit. “What’s the plan?” She asked. I stopped dragging her and thought for a moment.

 _“You didn’t think this far ahead?”_ Rasp said me, I shook my head, forgetting that Blake can see me.

“Why did you shake your head?” She asked quizzically. I had to quickly stammer up a lie.

“N-No reason!”

 _“Smooooooth.”_ I heard Rasp mock in my head. I tuned her out for a moment.

“Why not see if we can find the others in town?” I asked her, “It would be a pleasant surprise for them dontcha think?” I added with a smile. Blake thought for a moment, and I saw her ears in her bow droop as she did.

“Sure, why not.” She said with a small smile.

“Great!” I said to her; I grabbed her wrist. “First step of your dog training is that we’ll have to walk together like this.” Blake shook my hand away.

“How about I just walk closer to you.” She said with a laugh. “People would think we were a couple if we did that.”

 _“You’re like butter at this point Cherri.”_ Rasp joked in my head. I blushed a bit at Blakes statement.

“That wasn’t the intention.” I stammered out. Blake chuckled a bit. “Sorry, I’m a bit of an airhead at times.” I said laughing.

“Don’t worry, I’ve noticed.” Blake said. “I’m glad you can admit it at least. Want to start walking now?” She said, already taking a couple steps ahead of me. She looked back at me to make sure I was following.

“Yes ma’am!” I said to her, following her with my tail wagging.

* * *

I love going on walks, especially if I have company with me. Blake was actually great company too. She was able to deal with my airheadedness, for lack of a better adjective, and kept great conversation too. When we reached Vale, we noticed the town was bustling and alive. We decided to stop by a café nearby.

“Hello welcome to-” The hostess started to say, before laying eyes on me. “Quickly go outside. My boss can’t see you in here.”

 _“We would choose a place that doesn’t like Faunus.”_ Rasp said. I felt her roll her eyes, causing me to do the same. She sensed Rasp’s annoyance through me, so she smiled at me.

“Don’t worry, I can help you out there. He doesn’t mind Faunus giving him service, he doesn’t want them inside.”

“I guess it’s better than nothing.” Blake said, leading us outside. Once she sat us down and got our orders, which was some tea and pastries. I noticed the sign on the corner of the café door that said, “No Faunus’ in building.”

“That sign needs to be bigger.” I said quietly, causing Blake to chuckle.

 _“I don’t understand why she gets to laugh; she’s hiding her identity.”_ Rasp said in my head, irritated. I ignored her, hoping that her sour attitude didn’t affect me. The Hostess came back with our orders. I asked for cherry tea, while Blake got straight black. I felt my ears flicker, and quickly I picked up on something I wish I didn’t hear.

“Quickly serve the girl and her mutt, I don’t want to deal with my customers being angry that there’s a Faunus outside.”

 _“Oh no,”_ I thought. I’m afraid my secret might finally be out, and I’ve done such a good job hiding it too.

I hope Rasp doesn’t maim the owner.

* * *

I quickly maintained Cherri’s appearance and calmly looked at the hostess.

“Can you call your boss here?” I said her. I saw Blake’s face widen, surprised by my sudden question. The hostess wore the same face. She quickly went inside.

“Cherri?”

“I’ll explain later. Just enjoy the show for now.” I said to her, flashing her my signature smile. Blake noticed the change in demeanor and kept quiet, wanting to see what’ll come from it. The owner came outside and looked at Blake.

“What seems to be the problem?” He asked her, I quickly put my finger up.

“I’m the one who has a problem. Mr…” I trailed off.

“Liber.” He said, before turning his attention back at Blake. I stood up to his level.

“I said, I’m the one with the problem.”

“I see that.” He scoffed at me. “I don’t take complaints from those that don’t know their place, be happy I don’t kick you out _Mutt._ ”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” I said, taking the cup of tea I had in my hand and slamming it over top of his head. Drenched and dazed, he fell back. “Blake, be a doll and tell the customers to vacate the premises. Someone here needs to be taught a lesson in respect.” I saw Blake leave from her seat. “Tell them to leave the backway, much safer.” Blake went inside, quickly I might ask. I bent over the owner, before using my pan and slapping him across the face, knocking him out. Once I saw that Blake had moved everyone outside and advised them to go home, I dragged the owner inside and tied him up to the kitchen, I connected the rope to his hand and tied the rest to a pipe on the wall. I made sure to grab his keys too, so I can leave when this is over.

I felt my scroll vibrate, and Blake’s name appeared along with a message.

“I talked to the hostess, apparently he runs his business like a tyrant. He does have a successor who knows how to run the business well and is nice to all, so it’ll make their lives easier if he was out of the picture.” She said to me. “As long as you don’t get linked to this please, I’ll have them close the store, so you don’t get caught.” She added afterwards.

“Easy peasy.” I said aloud. I leaned across the counter, waiting for him to wake up. After about ten minutes or so, I heard him groggily groan and wake up.

“I felt like I got hit by a pound of bricks.” He said, before looking at me. “Why are you inside the building?”

“I’m a customer hun, I’m supposed to be here.” I said mockingly.

“No, you’re not. You’re officially banned from this cafe. Where are my employees?” He said. “Why can’t I move?”

“Because you’ll either learn to respect my people.” I said, I turned over to a stove and turned it on. “Or you’ll burn.” I snickered.

“You don’t have the balls.” He said, he looked a bit nervous, my favorite.

“I don’t? This is going to look like a complete ACCIDENT by the time we’re done here.” I said to him laughing. “Now then. What will it be?”

“You wouldn’t leave me here to die.” He said, panicking.

“Would I?” I asked him quizzically, I turned up the heat on the oven, making it reach 350. I open the inside. “Can you handle the heat? Because this is perfect for me.”

“You just preset the stove to 350? That isn’t bad.”

“Ah, but you’re missing something.” I said, pulling my pan out. “This isn’t just some pan I carry around you know. I noticed you only had one exit, with an outdoor lock and no way to unlock it from the inside. That’s a fire hazard isn’t it?” His eyes widen, him realizing what I was saying.

“Wait please!”

“We’ve just hit the third stage of your grief process. You won’t even be able to see the last.”

“I can change!”

“You were given a good amount of chances to change. It’s too late.” I walk over to the door and go outside and leave it a crack. “You did this to yourself Mr. Liber.” I fire a delayed fire sniper shot inside the kitchen; it’ll reach the oven the moment I leave the back door. I walked over and open the door, closed it behind me and locked it. I heard the crackle of the oven, and I knew the fire had started. I quickly left the place and met Blake at a more Faunus friendly café across town.

“Be happy the employees have our back, or else this wouldn’t have gone as smoothly.” She said, before putting down her tea. “Now explain.”

“Here, ask Cherri.”

* * *

When I came too, I saw Blake look at me incredulously. I looked around and noticed we were at a different café. I looked back at Blake and tilted my head.

“Where are we?” I asked her.

“Huh?” she questioned. I realized that my semblance must have activated, and Rasp brought me here.

“Of course, she left me to explain.” I pouted. This caused Blake to look at me funny.

“You’re not exactly making any sense.” She said scared, I realized how bad this must look.

“I have one request with the information I’m about to share with you, just like I keep your Faunus secret, you can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.” I said to her. “I want to share this with others when I’m ready.” I pleaded. Blake nods her head and continues drinking her tea.

“My semblance is basically me having two souls in my body. The one you see now and the one you saw before. My name is Cherri Micks, the airhead with a heart of gold and the brain of mush.” I said. I called to Rasp in my head, hoping she would answer. I felt her take control, showing off the changes that occur.

“I’m Raspberri, call me Rasp. I’m the second soul.” She said to her. “I don’t take shit, especially when it comes to Faunus haters. I’m a lot snarkier than Cherri, and I’m the one that has to “teach” her whenever y’all say something that isn’t literal.” She gives me back control.

“My semblance gets activated whenever someone calls me a Mutt, or another derogatory term for dog, including using dog as an insult. Normally Rasp shows a warning before she goes attack mode, did the guy call us a mutt again after she appeared?”

“I didn’t know he called you it the first time.” She said.

_“The Bow is blocking her hearing.”_

“Rasp said the bow might’ve blocked you hearing.” I said quietly. Blake nodded her head.

“I do tend to hear less because of it, so you’re probably right.” She took a sip, unfazed. “Do you know why your semblance is this?” I shook my head. “It’s probably for the best that you didn’t huh?” She said. I took a sip of my tea, which I had forgotten about. It got cool, so it was less enjoyable.

“Are you ok?” I asked her.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s always jarring when people meet Rasp under that circumstance. Lan almost lost an ear when he accidentally activated my semblance.”

“So, she’s non-discriminate?” Blake said with a raised eyebrow.

“More like she knows who’s she’s supposed to harm and not harm. As you can see, she sees and hears the same things I do, and she has access to my memory. She more or less keeps it together, otherwise I’d be a true airhead.” I said bashfully. “You’re taking this awfully well.”

“You’d be surprised what I went through when I was younger.” She said with a sad smile. “I’m glad you trust me with this secret.”

“I don’t have a choice; you saw it completely unfold in front of you.” I laughed out, causing her to chuckle in agreement. We saw a Monkey Faunus stroll up next to us and looked at us both.

“Would you ladies like some company?” He asked, he turned to me and added, “Are you trying to convince your friend to ditch the bow?”

“Faunus has a strange sense of recognizing other Faunus.” Blake said quietly, before motioning the empty seat beside her. “Blake.”

“Sun!” The Faunus says, taking his seat. He orders a cup of tea from the café. “What brings you guys here?”

“We go to Beacon. I’m Cherri by the way.” I said to him.

“Oh, y’all are training to be Huntresses? I am too!” He said. “Well, a Huntsman, but you get my drift. I’m training over at Haven, I just arrived today for the Vytal Festival. Apparently, we all take classes and train together while that’s being prepared.”

“So, we’ll get to see more of you it’ll seem.” Blake said to him.

“I guess so.” He said smiling. “So, why do you hide your heritage?” He said bluntly.

“I hardly know you, why would I tell you?” She started to say, before just sighing. “Why would a Faunus hide their heritage? To fit in. I don’t need the unwanted attention, nor stress.”

“Understandable.” Sun said shrugging. He finally got his tea, and using his tail to hold it, he starts sipping it.

“So… where’s your team?” I asked Sun, noticing the lack of people with him. “Ours are currently out and about, we were going to find them.”

“I may or may not had left them in Haven, they’ll be arriving at a different time.” He said bashfully.

“Why did you…?” Blake starts to question.

“Long story.” Sun answers, with a roll of his eyes. We nod our heads in understanding. I hear Ruby’s voice call out to Blake, and I look up. I wave at her, and the others that were coming into view, my eyes widen a bit when I realized who it was.”

“Hey guys! I thought you both were going to be at Beacon?”

“We decided to go on a little stroll as well. We had hoped to run into you guys at some point.” Blake said with a small smile. I nodded my head to affirm her statement.

“Who’s the other guy?” Lavender asked us.

“That’s Sun, who’s the new girl?” Blake asked.

“Penny?” I questioned.

“Salutations Cherri!” She said to me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her, after giving her a hug. She stiffly replicated the action, but still did it, nonetheless.

 _“Ironwood must be in town.”_ Rasp said to me.

“I’m here to compete in the tournament!”

“You guys know each other?” Ruby asked me quizzically.

“We’re friends actually! We met in Atlas!” I said. Penny affirming my statement.

“Can we go back to Beacon actually? I’m really tired.” Weiss sighed out, completely zoned out of the conversation. “I kept hearing about a White Fang attack on dust companies and I really don’t want to keep hearing about it.” I saw Blake’s eyes widen at this statement.

“Here, you all go, Blake, Sun, Penny and I will stay.” I said to them. They agreed and walked off.

“Why did you…?” Blake started to say, before I shushed her.

“Penny, can you do something for me?” I asked her.

“Anything!”

“Do you happen to know if the Schnee Dust Company is having a shipment today?”

“Later today, they are! I think I remember someone down at the docks talking about it.” She said after a while. I know she was checking public channels and was trying to coverup her real identity.

“I don’t know if the White Fang means anything to you Blake, but if you want to go check that out, we can.” I said to her. “The four of us.”

“Why does she get to come?” She asked me, pointing to Penny. She looked a little annoyed, probably thinking I gave away her secret.

“Are you a Faunus, Blake?” Penny asked her. “I can see your ears.” She explained afterwards. Blake got a little embarrassed.

“Is it that obvious?” She said quietly.

“Actually, it’s not. I think people just recognize the signs.” Sun said to her, earning him a weird look.

“Down to the docks it is!” I said. Leading them away. We walked away from the café and to the docks.

What we didn’t know however, is that we were followed.


	10. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lavender realized something was a little off about the way Cherri had basically shooed them off, and decided to get to the bottom of it.

**Lavender**

Something about the way Blake reacted when Weiss mentioned the White Fang raids struck me wrongly. I told Chris that I’d catch up with them later. I went and hid myself away from Cherri and the others.

“I don’t know what the White Fang means to you Blake, but if you want to go check that out, we can.” I heard Cherri say. “The four of us.”

“Why does she get to come?” I heard Blake ask, probably referring to Penny.

“Are you a Faunus, Blake?” Penny had asked her, surprising me. “I can see your ears.” Ears? She must be talking about under her bow. That’s a great read from Penny. Why does it feel like there’s more coming from what she said though?

“Down to the docks!” Cherri said, leading them down there. I knew exactly where they were going, due to Astra being in Vale before. I beat them there and quickly scoped out the spot, a bunch of Schnee Dust Company freighters were just delivered and wrapped up, waiting for distribution to the Dust shops here in Vale. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary yet, but it felt off.

Suddenly, the others arrived, causing me to hide. We wait out the rest of the afternoon till night falls. I notice that the four of them are more friendly now, probably since they’ve spent the last few hours talking to each other and breaking the ice for Sun and Penny. I noticed Cherri was exhibiting her rare dangerous senses and seems to be doing a lot of the talking for Penny.

Not even an hour passes, and a couple of bullheads appear. We all hide from them, awaiting to see the people inside. A man drops down, and I get a clear look at what he’s wearing, A White Fang jacket and a mask. I look up towards the rooftop, and I see Blake looking down sadly. She must have some sort of connection to the White Fang, she must have hoped that they weren’t involved.

“Hey, What’s the hold up?” I heard a familiar voice call out. I looked over and saw someone I hadn’t seen in years…

* * *

_“Lavender, while you’re in Vale, remember that you’re there on your own volition, and not as a member of Astra.” Rojana said to me, as I was packing up my things._

_“Which means?” I said with a raised eyebrow._

_“You might run into some old faces.” She said bashfully, I realized who she was talking about._

_“Torchwick and Neo are still in Vale?” I asked her, “I guess real gangsters don’t exactly back down at arrest attempts huh. Let me guess, have you guys been keeping in touch?” I added afterwards, it wasn’t a secret in Astra that Roman and Rojana were romantically involved, but their relationship was momentarily put on hold after we were forced to flee Vale._

_“A letter here and there, nothing too large.” Rojana said with a smile. “That isn’t the point though. I’m trying to tell you that the next time you meet him or Neo, they might not be as friendly as they once were. You either need more people than just yourself, run, or hope that they’ll return the favor from before.”_

_“It’s business, I understand.” I stated. “Now that I’m training to be a huntress, they’ve become my enemy.” I said, I couldn’t find the conviction in my words however, it’s hard that my first client and first friend is now my enemy. I hope we don’t meet in any awkward circumstance._

_“Please be careful Lavender. I beg of you.”_

* * *

Fuck that was Roman, of all the times, why now? I see Blake get up from her spot, and I realized she was on the move towards Roman.

“God, Ruby would so kill me if I allowed Blake to get hurt.” I said. “This is going to be a long night.” I moved closer to listen to what was happening without revealing myself to the others.

“-White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?” I managed to hear as I was coming up. I saw Blake had Roman by her blade. Her bow was gone, showing the ears she was concealing.

“Didn’t you hear kitty? The White Fang and I are going on a joint business venture.” Roman said to her slyly.

“Well, tell me what it is, or I’ll put an end to your little operation.” Blake said, I saw Cherri look into the scope of her sniper rifle, aiming at White Fang grunts on the ground. That’s when I heard more bulkheads show up. I was tempted to look up, but I was watching Roman, and I saw him quickly move his cane, which I knew held a cannon at the end. I throw a needle at the barrel, causing Roman to fire away from Blake’s feet. The needle disappeared after the collusion, causing Roman to look a little confused but he shrugged. I let go my breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. I heard shots ring out, and the White Fang members go down. Once they were all gone, Cherri dropped down along with Penny and Sun and went along different containers. More White Fang members poured from the Bulkhead above, causing Sun and Cherri to come out and deal with them with their weapons.

Blake was on high attack mode against Roman, but Blake didn’t realize she was outmatched. I watched Blake take a couple hits before Sun came in to help. He had this collapsible staff, and it separated into this gunchaku combination. It looked amazing, but it wasn’t exactly my style. Roman couldn’t deal with the unpredictability of this attack style and took some hits, but he still held his own, until Cherri cut in, knocking him back.

I watched Roman look around and finding a raised Dust container. He aimed at the container, but before he fired, I shot another needle, making his shot off mark. The needle however, landed near him, allowing him to study it. He smirked a bit, then looked over at the others.

“Nice hit, mutt.” Roman says to Cherri. I saw her eyes flare up in anger. “Please understand that I don’t mean mutt in a derogatory way, I just nickname people. I called her Kitty earlier, I’m sure your acquainted with Little Red, you all seem the type.” He said, I assumed he was referring to Ruby, the only person I know who’s little and red. It dawned on me that he’s also going to reveal my nickname, which meant that whatever happens now, is going to happen.

“You!” He pointed to Cherri, “Know your way around a fight, you’re not one of the students, aren’t you?”

“I guess in a way I’m not a student, but at the same time I am.” Cherri answered cryptically, what did she mean by that?

“It’s refreshing to know that my enemies are competent, I do want to know something before I leave, because we all know that I will.” He said with a cocky tone. I heard Cherri growl. “While you’re an incredible fighter, I have people in places you wouldn’t believe, and honey they will devour you.”

“I’d love to see them try.” Cherri said, before standing down, causing the others to do so. Roman put his Cane down, showing his amicable side.

“I’m doing this as a favor to a friend.” He said with a smile. He knows I’m here. “You all know Sleepy Thyme?” I rolled my eyes from my spot, him calling me by that brings back memories, but it’s based off a pun and I’m not the best person to use puns with.

“Sleepy Thyme?” Sun questioned.

“Lavender?” Cherri asked Roman. He nodded his head.

“She’s an old friend of mine. She’s actually here if you didn’t know.” He said.

“Bullshit, I saw her go home.” Cherri said, but then I saw her look over on the floor next to Roman. “May I?” She called out to him. “I’ll give the Pan to one of my friends over here, if that’ll make you feel better.”

“As someone who’s attached to his weapon, I’d honestly feel better if you kept it on you. I somewhat hope that you’ll keep this exchange friendly.” Roman said to her. Roman is only like this is business mode, so I know that this is how he’s treating it.

Cherri picks up my thrown needle and sniffs it. Immediately she runs over to where I’m hiding and peeks by the corner.

“Hello there “Cherri”” I say, putting air quotes around Cherri.

“Well fuck, I guess the cats out the bag huh.” Not-Cherri Says, before turning to Blake. “Sorry, that was two birds with one stone there.” Blake turns to me.

“This has to stay secret.” Blake said with urgency.

“Secret? I’d be surprised if either Ozpin or our teammates haven’t heard the commotion.” I said to them. “Roman did fire two cannon rounds, one into the ground and the other who knows where.”

“So, you know everything huh?” Not-Cherri said.

“Well, I don’t know who you are, but that’s something you can explain to everyone right? Both of you?” I said to them both. They looked at each other and nodded.

“We probably should, it’ll be safer for you three and better for everyone if they knew my secret.” Not-Cherri said, shrugging.

“I guess so too?” Blake questioned, before affirming her statement.

I felt Roman move closer to me and gave me a hug. When he let go, I checked my belongings, I managed to find nothing missing.

“If I learned anything from Rojana, is to not even attempt to steal from an assassin.” Roman dropped casually. “It’s nice seeing you Lavender, although from what Rojana told me, you’re training to be a Huntress right?”

“She’s like a mom, telling dad before I get a chance too.” I said laughing. “We miss you Torchwick. I wished things weren’t like this.”

“What’s life without a little fun?” Roman said to me, smiling. He came and gave me another hug. “It’s from Neo, I already told her you were with me.”

“Tell her I miss her too!” I said excitingly, my eyes couldn’t hide my sadness though.

“Alright kid, I gotta blast. I wasted too much time here to only get one container of Dust, but with no men to run the extra bullheads it’s all that we have.” Roman got onto that Bullhead with his cane in hand. “Next time we meet, come at me with everything you got.” He said, smirking. He waved at me and I waved back. When he was gone, I was met with four staring eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll explain when everyone gets here.” I said to them. I went to send a message to Chris using my scroll, but when I pulled it out, I was bombarded by a bunch of messages I missed.

_C: Hey, it’s getting late, where are you?_

_C: Lavender?_

_L: Hey Lav, where did you go?_

_R: Lavender! Have you seen Blake?_

_C: We heard an explosion just now, where are you??_

_L: Please tell me you’re ok. We just heard a second explosion._

_C: Lavender, I hope you don’t mind the breach of privacy, but we’re using your location to figure out where you are. Be safe, we’ll be there soon._

_R: Chris asked Weiss, Yang and I to come with him. I hope Blake is with you._

A new text appeared on the Scroll.

_C: We’re at your location, where are you?_

I messaged the three of them back.

“ _Sorry, I was busy. I’m with Cherri and Blake and uh, we have a lot to tell you all. Can we meet at the Ballroom? Tell JNPR to be there too.”_

_C: THANK GOD YOU’RE OK._

_R: I’ll text Jaune, we’ll meet you there._

_L: Please be there soon._

“You guys ready to spill secrets?” I asked them, Blake sighed a bit.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

* * *

We all congregated into the Ballroom, except Penny. Actual Cherri had gone to drop her off to where she was staying and caught up to us before we made it to Beacon. Blake put her bow back on her head before we entered. When we arrived, everyone was in their pajamas, and there was sleeping bags laid out on the floor.

“Ruby mentioned that there was going to be a lot talked about here, so we just kind of decided that we should probably sleep here.” Jaune said to us. I felt Professor Ozpin’s presence behind me, causing me to turn around. He was sitting on a chair near one of the support beams. He had a mug in his hand

“While normally unprecedented, kids sleeping in a public space causes for a little bit of protection. Besides, I needed to hear about what happened at the docks as it does concern my students.” Ozpin said, also in pajamas. “You wouldn’t mind if I stayed with you guys, right?”

“It’ll be pretty boring for you till we get to what happened at the docks. I’m sure you already know what we’re about to talk about.” I said to him. He took a sip from his mug and shrugged.

“I might, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be boring.” He said, leaning back.

“What did you guys want to talk about?” Pyrrha asked us.

“You guys probably want to sit down for this.” I said to them. “Besides, we need to get changed anyways.”

Blake, Cherri, Sun and I changed into our Pajamas and found a sleeping bag. They were all laid out in a circle, so someone is next to me on both sides. I decided to sit between Chris and Cherri, Cherri was next to Blake, and Blake next to Yang, Sun had to sit between Jaune and Lan. I looked over at the two of them and before I could start speaking, Blake spoke.

“I guess I’ll go first, seeing as my secret isn’t as shocking as the other two.” She starts to undo the bow on her head, “This might come as a shock to some of y’all but…” The bow came off, revealing her ears. “I’m a Faunus.”

I saw everyone’s eyes, but Chris’s, widen. Weiss went to speak, but Blake cut her off.

“There’s more… I used to be a part of the White Fang.” She said quietly, causing everyone to gasp. She looked down, “Before any of you all ask, I left when it became incredibly radical. I couldn’t deal with what we were doing, the harm we were causing and the fear.” She looked up at us, but mostly at Weiss. “I’m sorry for keeping this a secret till now, I’m still the same Blake you all know, just with a couple of cat ears.” She looked up at us. “Well?”

“I knew.” Chris said to her. “Not the White Fang thing, but you being a Faunus. Obviously, we have this solidarity with each other. White Fang is kind of surprising, but you’re not with them, so their current views obviously don’t match your current.” He added afterwards.

“As long as you’re no longer affiliated with them, I couldn’t care less.” Lan said bluntly. “I mean that in the nicest way by the way.” He added, once he realized that what he said could’ve been a bit insensitive.

“I’m glad you were able to tell us your secret.” Pyrrha said, earning nods from the rest of JNPR. I looked over at Ruby, Yang and Weiss. Weiss was still processing the information, but the other two were ready to speak.

“I’m glad you shared this with us Blake. Really.” Yang said, putting her hand on Blake’s shoulder. “I’m sure it must have been hard.”

“Yeah Blake! We’re a team, no matter who or what you are, we always got your back. Right Weiss?” Ruby added to Yang’s statement. She looked over at Weiss when she asked the question, causing a lot of us to tense.

“Of course, we got your back Blake.” Weiss finally said. “I wish I could’ve known sooner, but honestly, late is better than never. My stance is like Lan’s.”

“That’s one secret today.” Blake said with a small smile. I can tell she was happy she was able to get through this smoothly.

“I guess I’m next.” Cherri said. She took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m a person living with two souls.”

“And you said this would be boring.” Ozpin said to me with a smile. I think he knew, but he was relishing in the information.

“I’m sure you guys have gotten used to my personality. Caring and airheaded. The other soul is… well let’s just have her introduce herself.” Cherri closed her eyes, and the changes occurred, something that I’ve never noticed. The emblem on her shirt changed from a cherry to a raspberry, and there was a sharp toothed smile on the raspberry. I looked at Cherri’s face, and the same smile was produced on her face.

“What’s up y’all? I’m Raspberri. Nice to finally meet you all!” She said happily.

“What?!” Jaune called out.

“Don’t worry, I’m peppy but I’m dangerous, ask Lan.” She said smirking towards him.

“That was you?” Lan said. “I was so confused because Cherri didn’t seem the type to just attack.”

“Oh, she isn’t! I am though.” She said with a smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t actually attack you unless you call Cherri or I anything derogatory using our Faunus heritage. I’m ruthless, but I’m not entirely ruthless. Besides, you are all friends with Cherri, and her friends are my friends too. I can protect you guys and help out whenever.”

“That’s somewhat concerning yet comforting.” Ren stated, causing us to laugh. Lan looked a little bit more concerned than the rest of us, but he was targeted, so I can’t blame him.

“I’m sorry Lan.” Raspberri said seriously, I guess she read his face. “I’ve learned that fear is a great way to make people respect you, but obviously, that isn’t how Cherri rolls. I subjected you to something that probably scarred you plus it showed Cherri in a bad light. She really is a sweet girl, and if you have a problem it’ll be with me. We can talk it out like adults ok?”

“I didn’t realize my concern was showing.” Lan said with a laugh. “Mind if I call you Rasp?”

“That is my nickname.” She said with a genuine smile on her face.

“We’ll talk later Rasp.” Lan said smiling.

“Alright, last secret.” Chris said, looking at me. “What’s up Lavender?” I look at them, and took off my weapons, putting them on the ground. This earned a look from everyone, as we were all in our pajamas.

“Why do you have your weapons on you?” Ruby asked me. I took a deep breath, preparing for the shit storm that might occur.

“I’m an assassin.” I said quickly. I went to grab one of my weapons. “Technically, I’m not supposed to be without a weapon of some sort.” They all looked at me, skeptically. But Rasp was the first to say something.

“I knew. No one has the kind of weapons you have, let alone uses it so efficiently. You must belong to Astra.” Rasp said. The others’ eyes widen, and I realized that everyone here has heard of my clan.

“Astra? What are you doing here at Beacon?” Weiss asked me.

“I invited her here.” Ozpin stated. “Just because she’s an assassin, doesn’t mean she can’t be a huntress. Besides, she has more morals than a normal assassin.” Lan scoffed.

“I mean, it’s not like she’s part of one of the most ruthless assassin clans alive at the moment.” He said sarcastically. “Oh wait. She is.”

“Will you guys allow me to speak?” I said quietly, I’ve never told anyone about my life except Neo and Torchwick, but if that’s the only way I can get them to see my side, so be it.

“I couldn’t care less what you have to say to us.” Weiss said coldly, earning an agreement from Lan, and Ren. Blake looked conflicted, probably relating the life of a White Fang member vs a clan member. Jaune looked scared of me. I felt my body start to curl up in my seat.

“I think it would be prudent for all of you to hear what she has to say.” Ozpin said, causing the dissenters to be quiet and pay attention. “Tell them what happened.”

“Granted, this is from what my Maid told me.” I started to say.

“Maid?” Weiss questioned, earning a nudge from Yang.

“I come from Mistral, and not the country-side part of it, I lived just a few miles off the city, in a mansion no less. My family were wealthy and influential, it wasn’t long that someone realized that they would be in the way of something, so they hired Astra to go kill them. Astra utterly destroyed my family and servants, all equipped with something to fight back, and thought their mission was complete, but Rojana, the leader, found my Maid protecting me, who wasn’t even out of diapers yet.” I stop for a moment, recollecting my thoughts and allowing the others to process the first half of my story. I took a deep breath. “Rojana announced to the other two members who were with her that Olive, my maid, and I were not to be harmed, and to be transported back to Headquarters. After a few years, I realized that Rojana doesn’t kill those that can’t fight back. I aspired to be like her, as well as wanting to pay back the life debt that I feel I need to fulfill.” I look at them, struggling to keep the tears welling from my eyes from spilling. “It’s like being a huntress, just stuck to the shadows. I will never harm or kill an innocent or helpless person, that isn’t in my nature.” I stop talking to allow the others to take in everything. Ruby was the first person to realize I was waiting for them and spoke up.

“There’s a lot to unravel there…” Ruby said, causing me to chuckle a bit. “Laughter! Perfect!” She said with a very innocent smile on her face. That was her goal when she made that statement I see.

“My dad had mentioned something happening to an influential Mistral family before, but he never went into detail about what happened.” Weiss stated to me. “I apologize for my behavior, I didn’t realize that Astra had saved you, I thought you chose on a whim to be an Assassin.” Weiss said, Ren agreed with Weiss with a nod.

“At least someone as dangerous as you are, is on the good guy side.” Yang jokingly said, causing us all to laugh. Jaune apologized as well. Pyrrha apologized as well, although I don’t remember her having much of a problem with what I revealed. Nora was already asleep, but I’m sure she won’t have a problem with it. I already know how Rasp and Cherri feels about this, as well as Blake and Sun. I turn my attention to Chris,

“We’re partners Lavender, even if I did have a problem with you being an assassin, there’s nothing I can exactly do about it. Your profession doesn’t define you, and I know you’re not some ruthless killing machine.” Chris said to me. He nuzzles my side with his head. I smile, knowing that he will always have my back. I turn to Lan, who’s eyes were red. He hid them well though, no one else was reacting to his eyes, except Weiss.

“I’ll talk to you later.” He simply stated, but he reached and put his arm around Chris to put his hand on me, letting me know that he has my back too.

“Now the docks.” Blake said, she yawned, and I bet wanted to finish this conversation so we can go to sleep.

“Right, I’ll try to keep this brief.” I said them all. “I followed Penny, Cherri, Blake, and Sun to the docks. Their objective was to figure out if the White Fang was behind the recent Dust robberies. They were successful in figuring out that they were, but Blake got angry when she saw Roman Torchwick appear with the White Fang and attempted to get information. Sun, Cherri, who was Rasp at the time, and Penny were her backup. After a few moments after Blake made contact, Roman attacked Blake, unknowingly to him that I was hidden and redirected his shot away to make sure Blake was unharmed. A fight ensued, showing the prowess of Rasp and Sun against the White Fang goons, Blake focused on Roman. Sun and Rasp eventually went to help Blake, and Roman was knocked back, allowing him to survey the environment. He attempted to shoot a hanging dust container, but I redirected the shot away.”

“I can take over from here.” Rasp said to me. “One of Lavender’s needles appeared on the battlefield, but I hadn’t seen it until Roman pointed it out. He suddenly got really business like with us and wasn’t his ruthless self. He mentioned that there were people above him that would devour us, but other then that, he seemed normal. That’s when he revealed he knew Lavender personally and wasn’t going to kill us since she was there.” She said.

“I think he was able to infer from me redirecting his attacks from you guys that my objective was to make sure y’all lived.” I added. “Knowing Roman, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more behind what happened tonight.”

“There might be, but it’s getting late you guys. Let’s call it a night and in the morning if you all want to discuss it you can.” Ozpin said rather quickly. We were all tired though, so we didn’t question it. We all got into our sleeping bags.

“Good night students.” Ozpin said, flicking the light off.


	11. Tardies and Parties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lan spills his own past, and Chris turns 15!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Tiara_of_Sapphires and my friend Enby for helping proofread this chapter!

**Lan**

_“What’s wrong Lan?” Lavender had asked me once the night was over and we were back in our dorms after classes. “I didn’t forget what you said to me last night. I just didn’t know when to bring it up.” Chris and Cherri were out hanging out with team RWBY out in the courtyard. I took a deep breath, wishing that they were both here, so I didn’t have to repeat my past more than once. Lavender caught on to my hesitation, “If you want to wait for the others we can. I know having to explain your past is hard to do, especially if it’s a hard past.”_

_“Luckily, my past isn’t hard to talk about. I just relate to what you said last night. With the whole assassin deal,” I said to her. She looked confused. Knowing I had to explain was the hard part, because no one knows about what happened, not even Weiss._

_“My parents were targets of Astra. You might have been too young to know about the details.”_

_“The Atlesian Council Members? How could I forget? It was one of the few botched assassinations we’ve taken. I wasn’t a part of the people who went out to fight, but I heard from Olive that the two people we sent back didn’t make it out alive.” Lavender said, before it dawned on her what I was saying._

_“That’ll be them. Yes, I’m originally from Atlas. We moved to Vacuo because of the attempt on their lives, fearing for the safety of myself and my sister. I couldn’t fight yet, and she was still in normal schooling.” I sighed a bit. “Atlas didn’t do anything to attempt to protect us, and attempted to cover up news outlets from reporting it, like they wanted their deaths to happen, and that also pushed our need to move.”_

_“Why would they try to silence you all?” Lavender asked quizzically._

_I had thought that when I was younger, but as I grew up, the reason became apparent._

_“Because my parents are originally from Mantle, and the Atlesian nobles and councilmen, minus General Ironwood, were doing little to nothing to help out down there, like they were some kind of higher power.”_

_“They seem to forget how they were formed.” Cherri said, her and Chris coming through the door. I looked at Cherri’s shirt, noticing the raspberry emblem. “The people on the Council seemed to want to be there for the power it wields, not the responsibility that comes with it. It’s one the reasons why the General has two votes instead of the usual one, as he’s one of the few who take Mantle’s defense seriously.” Rasp explained to us._

_“How much did you guys hear?” I asked them, hoping that they both heard most of the conversation, so I didn’t have to repeat myself._

_“Only the last part. But if you don’t want to retell it, I can.” Rasp stated. “General Ironwood had briefed the Ace Operatives on what transpired after your family had left Atlas territory.”_

_“He told you guys what happened after a year passed from the initial assassination?” I exclaimed in disbelief. Chris looked shocked, but he listened intently._

_“Your family had stepped down, so the councilmen weren’t all hot and bothered to deal with your family at the current time. All they needed was to keep tabs on you all, so they didn’t do anything drastic. That’s what Ironwood told us all.” Rasp explained to us. “Your family moving finally gave him the clearance he needed to inform us, and to be on the lookout for shady behavior.”_

_“He couldn’t even tell his most trusted team about what happened until we left.” I said incredulously. “Wait, you were with the Ace Ops?”_

_“Not officially, no. But_ I _ended up being scouted by them,” Rasp said, “They didn’t realize that scouting me meant scouting Cherri too.”_

_“Back to the matter at hand, I still haven’t figured out who targeted my parents, but I’ve at least found out the why. I have a sneaky suspicion that one of the councilmen made the hit, but that would only be General Ironwood, Councilman Sleet and Councilwoman Camilla. My parents had a good relationship with Ironwood and Camilla.”_

_“I can at least tell you that the person who gave the mission showed up in person. I sort of remember their face, but it’s pretty bad. Do you have a picture of the other two council members? I know what General Ironwood looks like.” Lavender pondered._

_I sent a text to my parents asking for a picture of the Atlesian council._

_“It’ll probably take a while for them to text back. Hopefully, it won’t take too long.” I said to them. They looked at me quizzically. “Last I heard they were moving closer to Oscuro Combat school, I had left while we were in the middle of moving. There’s a good chance they’re out in the desert too, so I can’t be too sure they can answer as fast as we would like. Maybe it’ll take a day or two… hopefully.”_

_“Then all we can do is wait.” Chris said._

* * *

**Chris**

It hurt seeing Lan worried. It’s been a week since he texted his parents, and they haven’t texted him back yet. Lan already alerted Headmaster Ozpin about the situation, but right now since we’re just first year students, we’re stuck where we are. Lan and I were walking in the courtyard, towards the dining hall.

“Lan, we shouldn’t be worried about your family. Your parents are capable huntsmen, hell they destroyed Astra assassins.” I said, reassuring him.

He mustered a small smile, “Thanks Chris, it’s just hard that I don’t have a clue what’s happening.”

“Being in the loop isn’t fun. Believe me.” I said to him, smiling. We walked inside the dining hall and saw Cardin Winchester and his posse of bullies, targeting Velvet Scarlatina. I winced because he was pulling on her ears, and I know that was hurting her. I didn’t notice Lan was watching my reaction, and when I looked at him, he looked angry and walked up to Cardin. I followed behind him timidly, but ready to diffuse the situation if things got too aggressive.

“You have a problem, gentlemen?” Lan called out to them. Cardin sizes Lan up, before laughing. His hands were still on Velvet’s ears, but he wasn’t tugging on them like he was before.

“I don’t have a problem with you, unless you’d like one.” He stares at me, and I could feel his hatred for me, for the Faunus, burn in my chest. If looks could kill, that’s exactly what he would attempt to do. “My problem is with Lola and Bambi here.” He starts tugging at Velvet’s ears again, this time harder than before. I heard Velvet whimper, and I felt anger well up inside of me. “They think they belong here with us and are equal because of it. But they are far from the truth. Faunus will always be under humans.”

I felt my body move on its own, as I forced Cardin to let go of Velvet by kneeing him in the stomach, forcing him to keel over. I quickly moved Velvet behind Lan and I. I whirled over to Cardin, who was coughing.

“You fucker! How dare you touch me!” He yelled out, lunging at me. He forgot about Lan however, and all he had to do was stick out his foot to trip Cardin, causing him to fall face first. Velvet and I started laughing at Cardin. When Cardin got up, this time he whirled on Lan. But before he could lunge, Coco Adel appeared next to us, causing Cardin to freeze. Coco being here meant that Fox Alistair and Yatsuhashi Daichi were close by as well. Cardin luckily had enough brain power to determine when he should pick his battles, and this one was one he would get his ass beat in. He retreated with his team out of the dining room.

“What a baby.” Coco said bluntly. “Are you hurt Velvet?”

“I would have been if it weren’t for these two first years. You’re both from team LLCC, right?” We nodded our heads.

“I’m Chris Anthemum.” I said, smiling at the two of them. I noticed that Yatsuhashi nor Fox had shown up, meaning that Coco came here on her own accord.

“Lan Mei.” Lan said quickly.

“We know who you are.” Coco said with a small smile. “Your team made a large impression on the student body. Almost as large as Team RWBY. I will say that the execution of that King Taijitu was fabulous.” She held out her hand, “I’m Coco Adel and this is Velvet Scarlatina.” Lan and I shook it, and waved at Velvet, who still had her food in her hand.

“We know who you guys are too.” Lan said to them, smiling. “You’re half of Team CFVY.”

“I see our reputation is still well-known, even among the newer students.” Coco stated.

“What are you all doing in the dining hall?” Velvet asked us. 

I held up the food that I had placed on the table next to me. I didn’t even remember setting it down.“Nourishment.” I said with a shy smile. The three returned the smile back. I blushed from embarrassment, not realizing how public that scene actually was. “Lan we should go back.” I called out to him, hoping that he was going to leave with him.

Lan looked over at Coco and Velvet, before turning back to me, nodding his head.“It was nice to meet you both, we’ll see you both again sometime!” He called out as we left.

"I hope it’s soon.” Velvet said, smiling. We left with the sandwich I had in my hand and headed towards the dorm.

“I never thought we’d have a conversation with Team CFVY.” I thought aloud.

“They’re students, just like us Chris.” Lan said laughing. “Besides, it’d be awkward for us NOT to talk after you saved Velvet from Cardin. What happened there?”

“To be completely honest, I have no idea what happened.” I said to him. “Normally my semblance balances my emotions so I don’t get angry, but what Cardin said, and was doing, I couldn’t just sit back.”

“You seem to have history with him.” Lan inferred. I nodded my head and pointed to my missing antlers. “That was him?!” Lan said angrily. I nodded my head again. I started to actively use my semblance so Lan could calm down. When I saw Lan’s shoulders untense, I decided to speak.

“There’s no point getting angry at him now. What’s done is done, and honestly if he hadn’t done it, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. I guess I should thank him when I get the chance.”

“Right.” Lan said, slowing his breathing, like he was meditating. “Thank you for calming me down, I was going to rip Cardin a new one.”

“You’re not alone there. Yang’s in the same boat.” I said to him, laughing. “It seems Cardin can’t deal with strong women, he fled immediately when Coco appeared.” I said to him, causing Lan to laugh as well.

“He must have been afraid of Yang because of your days at Signal.” Lan said.

“He was afraid of Ruby too, because wherever she was, Yang was right with her.” I said, laughing again.

“Hey, Ruby can kick some serious ass.” Lan said.

* * *

When we finally reached our dorm, we opened it to a dark room.

“I guess Cherri and Lavender went out.” I said to him, before finding a note on my bed. I read the note silently.

_“Hey Chris, it’s Lavender, when you get the chance to, come to the ballroom! We’re hanging out with Team RWBY and Team JNPR in there.”_

“Oh, I guess we’re heading towards the ballroom now.” I said to Lan, shrugging. Lan was stifling a smile, like he knew something, but I decided not to bother him about it this time. “I guess it’s easier for us to congregate there since we have to accommodate twelve students.”

“I think if the Dining Hall wasn’t full, we’d be there.” Lan commented.

“But then we’d have to deal with all the students that would come in. At least the ballroom is normally empty 24/7.” I said, leaving the dorm. Lan followed behind me and caught up to my walking pace.

“I’m not much of a people person either.” Lan said aloud.

“I don’t think our team is into people.” I said laughing. “We have an Assassin, a bullied Faunus, a Faunus with two souls, and the son of Atlesian council members.” That’s when it dawned on me. “That’s why you seem to know Weiss really well!” Lan snickered a bit. “What?”

“I think you’re the last person on the team that finally made that connection.” I pouted at him. “What? Lavender knew from the moment we met that something was fishy about me knowing Weiss as intimately as I was. As for Cherri, I can only assume that Rasp had come to that conclusion, and informed Cherri about it.” That’s when another question popped into my mind.

“How do you feel about Rasp?” I asked. “She mentioned doing something that put Cherri in a bad light when we were in the Ballroom last.”

“We talked one-on-one that day when I contacted my parents.” Lan said, he seemed calm. “She apologized again, she only has Cherri’s best interest at heart, since they share a body. Since I was just a stranger, but a linked stranger, she fired first and worried about the consequences later.”

“She has Cherri’s sweetness when she isn’t enraged or focused.” I inferred. 

Lan thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“I’d say she shows a lot of tough love. She can be sweet when she wants to be, but she won’t baby us unless we need babying.” Lan stated. 

I took in that information, and before we knew it, we were in front of the ballroom. The lights were off though. I saw Lan open the door a bit and he held it open. My eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the dark yet, so I couldn’t see anything when I walked in. Once I did, I saw candles light up on the floor leading to a cake with candles on it. The lights flicked on,

“SURPRISE!” Everyone in the room yelled out, startling me. I don’t particularly celebrate my birthday, so I had forgotten about it this year. It was always Yang and Ruby who reminded me about it. This was the first time they threw a surprise party for me.

“You never mentioned to us when your birthday was!” Lavender said, running up to me and giving me a hug, followed by Cherri. They each had a gift in their hand. “Luckily, Ruby and Yang mentioned it a couple days ago, so I could grab a present for you. They did mention that you don’t like celebrating, so after presents, we’re going to slice the cake open and just hang out like normal. Is that ok?” 

I nodded my head, but I couldn’t help but have tears well up in my eyes. Yang and Ruby surrounded me, with presents of their own, and hugged me on either side.

“You didn’t expect to have a lot of people celebrating you huh?” Yang said, chuckling.

“I’ll have to actually start celebrating my birthday one year.” I said, laughing through the tears. I looked over at Lan, who had a present in his hand as well. “I expect you were in on this?”

“Of course, I was. I’d be a shitty teammate if I weren’t.” The five of them gave their presents to me. The others sang happy birthday to me, I blew out the candles, and Ren cut the cake.

“Everyone pitched in in some way. Cherri, Ren, Nora, and I baked the cake. Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha and Jaune set up the Ballroom.” Ruby said to me. She then whispered to me. “I think they felt bad they didn’t get you a present.”

“This here is already the greatest present I’ve received. Thank you both so much for planning this.”

“Of course, lil bro.” Yang said. “You’re family to us, you know that.”

“Open your presents! I’m excited to see what everyone got you!” Nora called out. I started with Ruby’s present. It was small, but it was a comb.

“Your hair sometimes gets a bit too shaggy, maybe one day when you don’t want the shagginess, you could use it?”

“As long as it doesn’t hurt my pedicles, I’ll be fine. Thank you.” I moved over to Lavender’s. It was vial of Gravity Dust, dust I haven’t utilized before. “Lavender, how’d you get this?”

“At a dust shop silly.” Lavender said, sticking her tongue out. “I had a feeling that this might help out in battle, both team battles and single battles. Are you able to incorporate this into your weapon?”

“I’ll try it out next time I practice.” I said to her.

“If you ever need more, let me know. I can see if we can form some gravity arrows for you too.” Weiss said to me, winking. “Being the heiress to a dust company does have its perks.” I nodded and thanked both her and Lavender.

“Alright ya jokester,” I said, looking at Yang. “Whatcha get me this time.” I said, opening her present. Yang starts whistling nonchalantly, making me a little afraid. When I looked inside the box, a pair of novelty glasses were in there. I had to stifle a laugh and turned around to put them on. When I turned back around with them on, I saw all my friends trying to stifle their own laughter.

“How do I look?” I said, smiling broadly. Everyone starts laughing out loud, causing me to laugh with them.

“Like a million bucks!” Yang said, giving me a hug. I took off the glasses and handed them to Nora, who also wanted to try them on. We all had a good laugh trying on the glasses and long before I knew it, the glasses landed back near me.

“My turn! Rasp and I picked this one out. I hope you like it.” Cherri said. I opened the box and found a bracelet inside of it. To be clear, it looked like a set of bracelets. I looked up at Cherri, who had a sweet smile on her face. “I might’ve bought everyone one, but I put it in the box to surprise everyone!”

“You’re adorable Cherri, really.” Blake said, sighing but smiling. I peeked back into the box and saw that the bracelets all had colors associated with them.

“She bought the bracelets according to what we normally wear, so if you come here and find your bracelet it’s all yours. Ruby, Cherri only has one red bracelet in here, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“What about you and me?” Nora said. I didn’t even realize that both of us normally wear pink.

“The lighter pink is Chris’s. Yours is the darker one. Yang, look for the bracelet that incorporates red, I tried to get Ruby’s color onto yours, so you weren’t confused when looking at your own and Jaune’s.”

We gave out all the bracelets, and we all wore them on our preferred wrists. I noticed that there were two extra bracelets in there, one was tannish yellow, while the other was a vibrant green, as opposed to Ren’s grassy green color.

“The tannish yellow is for Sun, if anyone has seen him.” Blake reached into the box and took his bracelet.

“I’ll give it to him when I see him again.” She told her.

“The other is for Penny, so I’ll get that for her.” Cherri said, grabbing the box

I looked over at Lan’s present and went to open it. That’s when the Ballroom door opened and Professor Ozpin walked in, along with Team CFVY in tow.

“Happy Birthday Chris! Sorry to put a damper on things, but I have a mission for Team LLCC. Normally we wait until we get to the spring semester but seeing as this personally involves one of you four, we’re going to make an exception. Team LLCC, you’ll be shadowing Team CFVY and will be going to Vacuo on a search and rescue mission.” Ozpin briefed us. I watched Lan’s face go from surprise, to worry, to distraught all during the same bit of sentences.

“That means that…” Weiss trailed off, looking at Lan.

“Yes, we have probable cause that Mr. and Mrs. Mei are currently missing.” Ozpin stated. “We’ll be dropping you all off at Shade, where you’ll meet with Headmaster Theodore, and get a broader picture of what happened, as he was the last known person to get into contact with them.”

“What abo-” Lan started to say before Ozpin interrupted him.

“Your sister is still at Oscuro, I’ve already made sure to get that information. You all leave tomorrow morning. Get plenty of rest.” The five of them start to lead out the ballroom. “You’ll need all the sleep you can get.”


	12. Saving Mei

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team CFVY accompanies Team LLCC in trying to save Lan's parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank to my friend Enby for proofreading!

**Chris**

“Alright kiddos.” Coco said aloud. Our team had met Team CFVY in the morning to have breakfast together before we left for our mission. By morning, I mean 6 am, before any of the classes started. “Although I’m sure we all know each other, we should still introduce ourselves. We’ll go first, Coco Adel.” She said curtly.

“Velvet Scarlatina.” Velvet said meekly, she gave a small smile “Pleased to meet you all!”

“Yatsuhashi Daichi.” Yatsuhashi said quietly. He seemed to be the strong silent type.

“Fox Alistair.” Fox said to us. I watched his eyes glaze over the four of us. He’s blind, but it was like he could still see us, just not our features.

“I’m Lavender Thyme.” Lavender stated, starting our end of introductions.

“Lan Mei.” Lan said quickly. Oh the perks of having a two syllable full name.

“Chris Anthemum.” I said, I bowed towards them in my seat.

“I’m Cherri Micks!” Cherri stated cheerily. I watch Raspberri take over Cherri’s body, I guess she’ll be handling this mission instead of Cherri.

“I’m Raspberri Micks.” She states with a toothy grin.

“You’re two people?” Velvet asked her. Fox nodded his head.

“ _I was sensing two auras inside of her. I’m surprised they’re already revealing secrets to us.”_ I heard Fox say in my head. I jumped a little in my seat, as I was unprepared for him to do that. A smile appeared on his face.

“Fox’s semblance allows us to communicate without moving our mouths.” Raspberri said, smiling at him. “I guess a secret for a secret huh?”

“ _It’s only fair. Besides, this is how I’ll be communicating most of the time.”_ Fox stated. _“Enough secrets though, we gotta save a little more for when we really get to know each other.”_ he jokingly added. _“Next thing we know, everyone will find out I’m blind.”_

“Really? I had absolutely no idea.” Lavender said sarcastically. This caused most of us to chuckle.

“I like her.” Coco said to her team. “Alright. Let’s eat, then we’ll brief you on what Ozpin told us before we came and got you four.”

* * *

“So they were on a mission given by Headmaster Theodore that was supposed to take 3-4 days tops, but it’s been a week and a half and none of Theo’s teams could find them, leaving it up to us to find them?” Lavender repeated, making sure she got all the information presented to us. We were already on the airbus on the way to Vacuo.

“What made them decide to send two teams of Huntsmen-in-training to deal with this?” Lan questioned. “I’m worried sick about them, but if Huntsmen couldn’t find them, what makes them think we can?”

“From what Ozpin told us, they don’t have anyone that can sense aura. Luckily, we do.” Coco said, pointing to Fox. “He’s a Vacuo native too, so he’ll be able to get us through the desert safely and quickly.”

“I’ll be able to help out too.” Lan stated. “We aren’t native, but we’ve lived here ever since I was a kid.”

“I’ve never been to Vacuo. What’s it like?” I asked Lan and Fox.

“Hot, dry and gross.” Fox stated briefly.

“It’s home though.” Lan added. Fox nodded his head in agreement. 

I felt the airbus come to a stop and looked outside. Shade Academy was huge, living up to its name and providing shade for the surrounding city, at least, the sides where the sun wasn’t shining. When we stepped off, we were greeted by a short woman.

“You guys must be Team CFVY and Team LLCC. Please, hurry inside. We want to find the Meis as fast as we can.” She said, whirling on her feet to move towards the academy.

“What can you tell us, Professor Rumpole?” Lan asked her. He took the lead and we all followed behind him.

“We had sent them in an abandoned dust mine on a request by a settlement nearby it. They wanted to attempt to mine the dust there so they can better fend for themselves.”

“Grimm wouldn’t be able to take down my parents though.” Lan stated.

“Your right, they wouldn’t. But other huntsmen might.” Rumpole said, opening the door to Shade Academy.

“You don’t think…” Lan said, looking over at Lavender.

“I-” Lavender started to say.

“No, they aren’t involved.” Professor Rumpole interrupted. “Your parents knew they were being followed the moment they left the settlement to go to the mine.”

“They were set up.” Fox said bluntly. Professor Rumpole opened another door inside Shade, leading to an elevator that we all got on.

“That’s the conclusion we came to.” Professor Rumpole stated plainly.

“Why would they have continued their mission if they knew that something was up?” I asked.

“We have a reason to believe that someone in Atlas hired these Huntsmen to attack your parents.” Professor Rumpole explained.

“They want nothing to do with Atlesian politics. It’s the whole reason why they left their council seats, and Mantle, to live out here in the desert.” Lan explained.

“There’s been talk about wanting to bring them back. Many of the people living in Mantle are unsatisfied with how their city is being treated. They call for your parents to come back, hoping to protect Mantle from what the Atlesian nobles want to do to it, which right now, looks like abandonment.”

“General Ironwood would never abandon Mantle.” Lan stated clearly.

“Another right assumption, but their goal isn’t to sway Ironwood, it’s to outvote him.”

“Fuck, they’re holding an election soon.” Rasp said behind us, looking at her scroll. “They’re looking at adding a single candidate. It’s between Robyn Hill and…” Rasp pauses for a moment, before growling. “Flavo Twyllo.”

“That coward? What’s he doing running for a seat on the council?” Lan said skeptically.

“Fill us in on who he is later, we’re almost in Headmaster Theodore’s office.” Professor Rumpole stated. When we entered, we saw Headmaster Theodore pacing around his room.

“Great, the eight of you are here.” He stated as he ran up to us. “I’ll just skip the pleasantries, you know who I am, and we know who you all are.”

“We prefer if we get to the point as well sir.” Coco said to him. We all nodded our heads, sharing the same sentiment.

“You’re the proxy leader for this ragtag group?” Headmaster Theodore asked Coco, who nodded her head. “Good. You all look capable, but with her in charge I’m sure we’ll finish this mission up quickly.”

“That’s the plan sir.” Lan said. Headmaster Theodore looked him over, before giving him a hug.

“I know this must be hard on you, Lan my boy. They’re ok, don’t worry.” He said, attempting to comfort Lan.

“Your encouragement is welcome, but I would like to find them as soon as we can.” Lan stated. He still hugged Headmaster Theodore, Lan was looking for comfort.

“Right, as soon as the briefing is done, I expect you all to head over to Breccia immediately.” He pulls out his scroll. “Their last known location was in front of the entrance to the mines, this was about a week or so ago. They already had sent word back that they were being followed, and their colors and clothing were too uniform to be anyone from Vacuo.”

“Atlas.” Velvet said quietly. “They’re the only academy that still allows their huntsmen to use their uniforms after graduation.”

“Right you are Ms. Scarlatina.” Headmaster Theodore stated. “I managed to find more information before you showed up. We have a sneaking suspicion that Robyn Hill paid the Huntsmen for their services.”

“Bullshit.” Rasp stated bluntly. This earned a stern look from Professor Rumpole and a look of confusion from Headmaster Theodore.

“Explain.” Headmaster Theodore asked.

“Robyn was the Mei’s largest supporter, they protected Mantle and its people while keeping them on even footing with Atlas .” Rasp explained to them. “It wouldn’t make sense that while people were demanding them back, that she’d eliminate them. She’d more than likely step down, or wait until the next election to join the council with them.”

“Do you think it could be that guy that you mentioned before?” Lavender asked Rasp.

“I’d bet my life that it was Flavo. He’s a dishonest and slippery coward. He wouldn’t be able to win the vote of Mantle by conventional means, so he’s working to discredit Robyn.” Rasp said, unable to hide the disgust in her voice. “I’d rip him a new one if he wasn’t all the way in Atlas.”

“We’ll deal with that after we rescue the Meis.” Headmaster Theodore said. “You’re dealing with at least two enemy Huntsmen. We’ll take you as close as we can without alerting the settlement, in case they’re in on the plot. I expect top results from you all. Godspeed.”

Professor Rumpole takes back down the elevator and towards the airstrip, where another Airbus waited.

“Ms. Adel can you hand me your scroll?” Professor Rumpole asked, in which Coco obliged. She quickly clicked around on Coco’s phone and handed it back to her. “I put my number in there so you can call us in case things get hairy. I also connected you to our CCT network so we can keep track of your whereabouts.”

“Thank you Professor.” Coco said. “We’ll finish this as fast as we possibly can.”

* * *

We hopped onto the Airbus and it flew us over to the vicinity of Breccia. From there, we walked to the settlement. It thrived with people, none, on the surface, seemed non-native.

“Welcome to Breccia!” A spritely woman greeted us. “What brings you folks over to this part of Vacuo? You’re obviously not regular people.” She stated, making note of the visible weapons we carried.

“We’re here because we heard about an abandoned mine teeming with dust. Know where that might be?” Lan asked her. The lady thought for a moment, before pointing towards the east.

“The mine should be over there. We had asked for help a week ago and the huntsmen that were sent there haven’t come back, so we assumed the worst and haven’t gone back. Are you here to rescue them?” She asked. I studied her face, and felt a hidden sense of fear emanating from her.

“No ma’am, we’re just here for the dust.” I stated to her. I felt relief, like a burden was lifted.

“Alright then, the dust is that way then.” She stated, leaving us to walk around the settlement.

“Fox, open the line for me.” I whispered to him.

 _“What’s up?”_ Fox stated.

 _“She’s hiding something. She was scared that we were going to rescue the Meis.”_ I told them.

 _“What made you think that?”_ Coco asked me.

 _“My semblance allows me to calm others down, both actively and passively. Because of it, I’ve also learned to detect hidden emotions. When she asked us if we were going to save the “huntsmen” from before, fear showed in her eyes. I don’t think she’s doing this on purpose, I think she’s being threatened.”_ I explained to them. This was mostly for Team CFVY’s benefit, since my teammates already knew about my semblance.

 _“Velvet, Yatsu, can you both stay here and make sure nothing is out of the ordinary?”_ Coco asked her teammates. _“Lavender, I’d feel a bit safer if you stayed with them too. We need someone here to gather information.”_

 _“Of course.”_ Lavender quickly said, before disappearing from the group.

 _“She’s fast.”_ Fox stated. _“That leaves Coco, Chris, Lan, Raspberri and I to head over to the mine.”_

 _“Find that woman and tell her that you two are going to stay back and help out.”_ Coco said to her teammates. _“It’ll be a little sketchy if you two stayed back for no reason.”_

 _“On it.”_ Yatsuhashi stated. Even in my head he’s quiet.

 _“Found a house with an armed guard outside of it. Looks like a huntsman.”_ Lavender told us, _“Looks like someone important is inside.”_

 _“We got to work together more often, that was fast.”_ Coco said. 

_“Take a picture of him, we might need it later.”_ Rasp told Lavender.

 _“Got it.”_ Lavender answered back.

 _“We’re heading out. Text us whatever else you guys find.”_ Coco said.

The five of us left Breccia and headed east. It wasn’t too long after we had left that I felt my scroll buzz.

_L: I saw two armed personnel headed your way. One female and one male. They don’t seem to be huntsmen, just hired thugs._

“Company.” I stated. Rasp and I looked over our shoulders discreetly and saw the two trailers.

“You want the honors?” Rasp asked me.

“All yours.” I said to her. I watched her unfurl her frying pan and turned it into its sniper rifle form. We walked forward as two silenced shots rang out behind us.

“Were they able to alert anyone?” Coco asked Rasp when she returned.

“They didn’t even know what hit them.” Rasp laughed out. “They’re definitely Atlas personnel though. White and Yellow, Twyllo’s colors.”

“We need to rule out the thought of Robyn doing this.” Coco stated.

“Robyn normally has a band of “Happy Huntresses.” It’s a fully female group. There’s no males involved.” Rasp explained.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Coco said. “Lavender said there was a huntsman at that house, not a huntress.” 

* * *

We found a chasm and the entrance to the mine after wandering the desert for a while. Fox mentioned that sandstorms are common,but we lucked out while walking. The first thing I noticed when we got there were a group of people outside the mine. They wore the same colors as the thugs we defeated on the way here.

“It looks like there’s a party.” Rasp stated, looking into her scope. “Ready to crash it?”

“I’m thinking about raining on their party.” I said, looking at Rasp.

“Chris turned fifteen and all the sudden he’s a new person.” Rasp said, laughing. She starts prepping the fireball in her skillet.

“Wait, you're fifteen?” Fox asked me.

“Mmhmm.” I answered back, I nock a combustion arrow into my bow. “Ready when you are Rasp.”

“Lan you want in on this action?” Rasp called out.

“Of course I do.” Lan said, loading his pistols with fire dust. He shoots it as Rasp is cooking it, adding more power to the flame. I notice the fireball becoming more rounder and brighter.

“That’s dust right? I got this.” Coco called out. She holds up her arm, and I see the fireball shine even brighter, like the sun. “My semblance ups the effects of dust. It should be ready now.”

I draw back the arrow and aim it above the entrance to the chasm.

“Here we go!” Rasp called out. Rasp throws the ball up and hits it like a tennis racket over the horizon. As soon as it’s above our targets, I fire the arrow. It hits the mark cleanly, and with it, the fire starts raining from above. Because of how large the fireball was, no matter where they ran, unless they ran into the mine, they’d be showered in hellfire. I watched as the thugs burned to a crisp, unable to put out the fire due to the heat of Vacuo.

“Fox, I wish you could’ve seen what happened.” Coco said to her teammate. “It was beautiful.”

“It sounded destructive.” I then see him crinkle his nose. “Ah, the smell of burning flesh.”

“We’ll have to get past that. We need to hurry inside.” Lan called out.

“Right, we’re going in, rescuing the Mei’s, and getting out of there.” Coco called out. I felt my scroll buzz a couple of times, I realize we missed messages from Velvet and Lavender.

_V: Lan’s parents are still in the mines. The townsfolk here have been talking about a geist that took refuge in there._

_L: Heard from one of the huntsmen stationed here that their orders are to kill the Meis if they make it out of the mine. But, because of how long they’ve been in there they’ve been sending smaller teams to make sure they’re alive. None have made it back, but there’s always communication saying that they’re alive._

_L: They’re getting close to sending in hired huntsmen if you don’t get them out soon._

“Knowing my parents, they prepared for this to take longer than expected. They’re probably camping out in the mine, hiding from the Geist and defeating the patrols they sent in there.” Lan stated. I notice his shoulders untense.

“Must be a relief to know your parents are still alive.” I said, smiling at him.

“Yeah,” He said, giving me a small smile. “It is.” I felt blood rush to my ears and cheeks, but focused on making sure that it didn’t show.

“Right, Team.” Coco called out. “We got a family to save.”


	13. Mining Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lavender, Velvet and Yatsuhashi run into a small bit of trouble. Meanwhile, Lan, Chris, Rasp, Coco, and Fox venture into the mine to find the Meis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my friend Enby for proofreading my chapter!

**Lavender**

_“Velvet, what else have you learned?”_ I texted her on my scroll.

 _“We managed to figure out from that lady that Twyllo is supplying this settlement with the means to survive, but only so he can eliminate the Meis. If he accomplishes his goal, he’ll supply Breccia for life, but if he fails then he isn’t gonna help them anymore.”_ Velvet texted back.

 _“You found out that much 0-0?”_ I asked her.

 _“I’m a pretty persuasive person :P.”_ Velvet sent back. _“I’m so happy you use emoticons, I use them too :)”_ Velvet added in another text. I smiled at my scroll, before putting it back in my pocket. I explore this little settlement, taking in the different people that were here. If Twyllo had control of this settlement, you’d think he’d have a larger presence here.

 _“I wonder what he has over them.”_ I thought. I sensed someone's presence, someone foreign, and so I hid. I spotted this flashy, large man and just by looking at him I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him.

“I want an update on the Meis NOW!” I heard him yell into his scroll. “And keep an eye on those huntsmen that appeared a while ago, something tells me they don’t just want the dust in the mines.” That must be Twyllo. I pulled out my scroll.

 _“Just found Twyllo, he’s attempting to keep tabs on us.”_ I texted into the group chat. I got a couple of dings back.

_CH: Warning, We don’t have great service down here. But thanks for letting us know._

_C/R: Did you find him?_

_“Large flashy guy? Barks orders instead of doing it himself?”_ A couple of minutes passed before they responded.

_C/R: That’s him._

_CO: Gross._

Velvet texts me privately.

_V: We’ve been spotted and are being tailed, Lavender can you help?_

I silently climb onto the rooftop of a sturdy building, and quickly scan the area. I find Yatsuhashi immediately and in front of him is Velvet. Behind them, I see thugs following them. I have a clean shot on them, but it’s in the clearing of the settlement, making it impossible for me to perform the kill without alerting anyone else. I send a quick text to Velvet.

_“Lead them away from the clearing and into the alleyway to your right. No one is there.”_

I watch Velvet and Yatsuhashi turn to the right, and the thugs follow them. I prep my needles, and, as soon as they left the open, I threw them. I nailed both of them in the neck, killing them instantly. I jump down and go to meet the two of them.

“I see you have no problem killing people.” Yatsuhashi commented as I approached. I retrieve the needles and look at the both of them.

“It’s something I have to get used to.” I lied. Yatsuhashi shrugged, but Velvet seemed unconvinced. That’s when I sensed more thugs, and they were approaching our position fast.

“What’s wrong?” Velvet asked me, before I saw her ears twitch. “What’s the plan?”

I surveyed our surroundings, we were in a tight alleyway, with one going back to the clearing we were just at. I found a way up to a roof and pointed at it. Yatsuhashi started climbing first, leaving Velvet and I on the ground. Velvet’s ears twitch again. I turn around, and I see the four thugs they hired, plus a huntsman in the back. I noticed that he was dressed a little bit more… conservative than his boss. It looked like a military uniform, and had a Yellow Pin on it.

“Shit, there's a Huntsman, he’s behind the others.” I said to Velvet. “Looks to be one that follows Twyllo around, so not a hired gun.” 

“Why did you kill our men?” The huntsman called out.

“Why were you following my friend?” I questioned, leaving out Yatsuhashi. The huntsman smiled slyly.

“Orders from our boss.” He called out, before heaving his weapon and slamming the head of it into the ground. It looked like a double-edged axe. “You killing them gives us an ample reason to take you two out however.” 

I prepped my four needles and threw them at the hired thugs, killing them. I watch the Huntsman’s smile turn from slyness to fear.

“What the-?”

“It’s too bad you can’t share their fate.” I said behind him, kicking him down to the ground. I hold Emancipation to the back of his neck. “Don’t move, or I’ll be forced to kill you too.”

“Ha! You think you’ll be able to get me to talk?” He said to me. I watch him tighten his hand into a fist. Suddenly, I felt another presence behind, a strong one. I turned around, but nothing was there.

“Lavender!” Velvet called out, I heard chains rattle and ducked. The axe had nearly made direct contact with my neck. I backflipped away.

“Here I thought I’d be able to trick you.” He called out. That’s when I realized what he did.

“You projected your Aura.” I said to him, matter-of-factly.

“You can sense people, I can tell. Best way to fight a sensor is to fool them.” The man states, grinning for ear to ear.

“That’s a nifty weapon. A chain on an axe.”

I hear a camera shutter click and a flash goes off. Velvet had taken a picture of us, something that I wasn't expecting. Neither was the man, because he turned around to look at her. I took the time she had given me to appear behind the man, this time using Emancipation to attack him, piercing through his aura and hitting him directly. Once he realized what was happening, he turned around and brought his axe with him. I sidestepped behind him to dodge the incoming flying axe, and moved out of combat towards Velvet.

“Velvet, can you fight?”

“Yeah!” She said, camera in hand. She snaps a picture of me holding my weapon.

“What?” I questioned, before I saw Emancipation form in her hand. Velvet moved forward on the man, and I followed. He could swing his axe around to block one of us, but because of the tight quarters it’ll get lodged into a building here. We had the advantage, and he knew that. He tried to run when he realized he was outmatched, but his speed could never match my speed. I reached him and swept him off his feet, which earned a swift stab to break his aura from Velvet. She swiftly kicks him in his face, knocking him out.

“Yatsuhashi! Quick, come down here and move him onto the rooftop.” I called out to him. He comes down and picks the guy up and carries him up there. Velvet and I followed after making sure there was no one around.

We occupied a building that seemed abandoned, and tied up our captive to a pole that was holding up the structure.

“Velvet, what was that back there?” I asked her. She gave me a shy smile. “It was amazing, whatever it was.”

“Anesidora, my weapon, can produce hard light copies of weapons that I take pictures of.” Velvet explained. 

“How do you have access to one of the rarest forms of dust in existence?” I questioned. I couldn’t hide my excitement though, Her weapon is incredibly unique, and I love unique weapons.

“Having family in high places gets you somewhere.” She said with a wink. “I’m surprised you didn’t question how I was able to mimic your movements.”

“It’s a semblance right?” I guessed. Velvet nods her head at my statement. “You must have a photographic memory!”

“Ding Ding Ding!” Velvet said, laughing. She turned serious afterwards. “You're going to have to explain to us your background, because your speed, your demeanor, even your actions weren't exactly huntsman like.”

I sighed.

“That’s a long story.”

* * *

**Cherri/Raspberri**

“Do you have a pinpoint on them Fox?” Lan asked him. We were in the middle of the mine wandering waiting for Fox to have a location.

 _“Not exactly a pinpoint, but I have a general location.”_ Fox sent to us using his semblance. 

“Great, Lan will take the lead. Fox, you'll be behind them. Rasp, Chris and I will bring up the rear.”

“Let me know whenever you need light my friends.” I told them.

 _“Will do.”_ Fox sent out, causing Chris, Lan and I to snicker.

“Is he a comedian all the time?” I heard Chris ask Coco. 

_“Only on Tuesdays.”_ Fox joked. 

“Every day.” Coco said, sighing.

 _“You love me.”_ Fox said. _“I meant to ask, you three seem perfectly fine with killing people. What’s up with that?”_

“Do you really need my explanation? We know how Vacuo works.” Lan deadpanned.

 _“Touché. What about you two?”_ Fox said, deflecting the answer to Chris and I.

“Fun fact: I’ve been killing people before I was forced into Cherri’s body.”

“Interesting, go on.” Coco said.

“That’s all you’re getting from me.” I said. “Just know that I’m used to combat.”

 _“That’s new information to me!”_ Cherri called out from inside my head.

 _“She speaks!”_ Fox sent out. _“I was wondering when you’d say something Cherri.”_

 _“You can hear me?”_ Cherri asked.

“Thanks to Fox’s semblance, we all can Cherri. Fox is connected to your mind after all.” Coco explained. 

_“Hello everyone! To answer your question I don’t like killing people, but if I have to it’s for survival normally. Otherwise I allow Rasp to do the dirty work.”_ Cherri explained.

“Seeing as a lot of times our combatants are human, and they call us a mutt, you can expect that I do a lot of the killing.” I said, snickering.

“Cute.” Coco states. “What about you, short stack?” She asks Chris.

“After spending a year trying to fend for myself when I was only seven, I’ve grown to be a tad used to having to do things that I don’t like to do. I do understand that it’s a necessary evil sometimes.” Chris explained.

“Wait what did you mean by that?” Lan asked him, a genuine surprise appeared in his voice. I have to admit, I was curious about that myself.

“Another story for another time.” Chris said meekly. 

“Any sign of Grimm or the Meis?” Coco asked us.

“I haven’t seen any.” Chris called out.

“Haven’t smelled any either.” I told them.

 _“We’re getting closer to the Meis though.”_ Fox said. _“Their aura signature is getting stronger. But I see three of them, and one of them doesn’t even seem human.”_

“What does that mean? You’re telling me there’s something there that’s emanating aura?” I asked.

“My mom must have used her semblance.” Lan piped up. “She’s able to befriend Grimm.”

“She can do what now?” Fox said aloud.

“I can’t exactly explain it, because she never actually went into detail _why_ she has this semblance. All she’s told me is that she was tending to some pets she had in Mantle when Grimm attacked. She had an emotional outburst in front of a Beowolf. All of a sudden, the Beowolf turned on its pack, surprising the others Grimm around it, allowing the Ace Ops to defeat the other Grimm.” Lan explained. “This was before she trained to be a huntress.”

“What about the one that turned?” Chris asked.

“It acted like a dog with my mom. But since it was Grimm, they still had to kill it. But they explained to her what happened, and pushed her to be a huntress.”

“Now she’s one of the best huntresses that’s graduated at Atlas.” I said. I heard Lan sigh. “If you’re not going to brag for her, I will.” I said, shrugging.

“I’ve been taught that modesty is the best policy.” Lan stated.

“What are we, eight?” Coco said, causing Chris and I to snicker. “If your family is awesome, own up to it!” It went quiet for a moment, then Lan spoke up.

“Yeah, my mom and dad were ranked first and second of their class at Atlas.” He states proudly.

“Good.” Coco states. “Now, we’ve been walking for a bit, how close are we now?”

 _“The Geist picked up our presence and is moving to intercept us.”_ Fox explained.

“I got it.” Lan said. “It should sense the similarity in auras between me and my parents and take us to them.”

When the Geist appeared, it was already inside a rock formation and ready to fight. However, it took a look at Lan and left its rock formation to nuzzle him.

“Watching Grimm act like pets is weird.” I stated plainly.

“I don’t know, it seems kinda cute.” Coco said, snickering a bit.

“Hey buddy, can you take us to mom and dad?” Lan asked the Geist. It nodded its head and started moving the way it came. We followed it, and not before long we had run into a dead end of a cave?

“Lan? What’s this?” Coco asked him.

“Natural camouflage.” He stated with admiration. I watched as the Geist entered the dead end and moved the rocks.

“They used the Geist’s ability to possess inanimate objects to create a dead end?” I asked.

“Not used, because the Geist is autonomous. My mom probably mentioned to my dad that they needed to find a way to hide, and the Geist overheard and helped out.”

“That’s incredible.” Chris stated.

“Awesomeness does run in the family.” He said, turning at Chris and winking. Chris and I were the only who caught that action too, making Chris blush and I stifled laughter.

We walked through the opening the Geist left and waited for it to close back up the cave. Once inside, we were greeted by light, allowing Lan and Coco to finally see the cave. A bonfire crackled, and there was a woman tending to it.

“Mom!” Lan exclaimed, running over to her and hugging her. We caught up to them.

“Lan? What are you doing here?”

“Headmaster Theodore had thought that you guys were in trouble and wanted us to come save you.” He explained. That’s when his dad appeared.

“Just like what I dreamed.” He stated. He then hugged Lan. “It’s great to see you son.”

“You too Dad.” Lan said to him, hugging him back.

“Dreamed?” Coco questioned.

“My husband’s semblance is clairvoyance. When he dreams, he can sometimes see glimpses of the future. He can’t do anything to stop them, but he can prepare for them.” Mrs.Mei explained to us.

“I had dreamed that we’d be stuck in a cave at some point, and had packed extra food, supplies and water when I heard we were going into a mineshaft. I also dreamed about seeing my son again, along with his friends.” Mr. Mei also explained to us.

“Well, you’re looking at them.” Lan said. “This is Coco Adel and Fox Alistair of Team CFVY who we’ve teamed up with to complete this mission, and Chris Anthemum and Cherri Micks of Team LLCC, which is the team I’m on.”

“Raspberri is that you?” Mr. Mei called out to me. I waved to him and flashed my signature smile to him to affirm his question.

“Rasp?” Mrs. Mei questioned.

“Hey Ba Xi, Orchid.” I waved to them sheepishly.

“You… You’re alive?” Ba Xi questioned.

“Information for another time.” I stated.

“Do we need to know?” Chris asked me. I shook my head.

“Not right now, no.”

“Well, we need to get going Mom, Dad. Headmaster Theodore is waiting.” Lan said to them.

“What about Twyllo?” Orchid asked. That’s when my scroll buzzed. It was a message from Lavender that apparently was sent 10 minutes ago.

L: _Look what we found._

A picture of a man in an Atlesian uniform shows up. He wore a yellow pin on his right side. 

“Looks like Lavender, Velvet and Yatsuhashi caught one of Twyllo’s men.” I told them. “Looks like someone who willingly followed him too.” another message pulled in, this one sent 5 minutes ago.

V: _Be careful! Twyllo is planning to go into the mine himself with other Huntsmen._

Finally, one last message, this one sent now.

L: _We’ve lost our anonymity, we had to leave the settlement, we’re running east towards your location, hurry!_

I guess the others hadn’t gotten that last message yet, because they haven’t reacted yet. I felt my tail wag.

“Rasp, what’s going on?” Chris asked, picking up on my heightened emotion.

“When we leave this place, prepare for a fight. Lavender and the others got caught and are coming here now.”

“What?!” Fox said aloud.

“That’s not all, Twyllo is going to be here soon, and with Huntsmen too. Let’s get out of here, quickly!”

I watched as the Meis quickly broke down and stored their portable camp, and once they were all packed, we all started to head back to the entrance of the mine.

 _“Let’s hope that they’ll beat us to the entrance, I’ve been in the mood to gut a spineless coward.”_ I thought.


	14. LLCC/CFVY vs Twyllo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final bout between our heroes and Twyllo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my friend Enby for helping me Proofread this chapter :]

**Lan**

“When we leave this place, prepare for a fight. Lavender and the others got caught and are coming here now.” Rasp said to us.

“What?” Fox said out loud.

“That’s not all, Twyllo is going to be here soon, and with Huntsmen too. Let’s get out of here, quickly!” Rasp added.

I felt my blood rush, and I got incredibly angry. Twyllo was pulling out all the stops to kill my parents, but we weren’t going to allow that to happen, and I’ll protect them until my last breath.

“Did anyone hear birds cooing?” Coco asked. I felt my rage subside, and felt Chris by my side.

“Your anger should bubble up when we get outside, not now.” He whispered to me.

“You’re right… Thank you.” I whispered back. I meditated so I can control my emotions better.

“We’re ready!” My Dad called. He had his weapon in his hand, Phantipon. My mother also had her weapon, Crash’N’Slash in her hands.

_ “What about the Geist?”  _ Fox sent to us, he must have included my parents, because I saw them look around for the voice that suddenly appeared in their head. Fox must have sensed my parents' confusion, because he added,  _ “The blind one has the telepathy semblance.” _

“He’s our helper!” My mother said, she didn’t like calling the Grimm we kept as pets, “pets.”

“There should be a rock formation that’s close by, he’ll become a Petra Gigas when we get there.” My dad explained.

“Then we’re good to go! Let’s roll out.” Coco said, turning around towards the entrance. “We’ll use the same formation to get out. Mr. Mei, can you lead with your son?” My dad nodded his head and took lead with me.

“Just like the old days huh?” He joked, causing me to smile.

We got about halfway out before I heard the tiny flapping of wings.

“Ravagers? How did we miss them before?”

_ “We’re traveling with another creature of Grimm, you have to remember they attract each other.”  _ Fox sent out.

“And because the Geist always concealed itself when it came to our camp, we never had to deal with them.” Mom explained. “How many are there?”

“I hear 7 or 8.” Rasp said.

“More helpers?” Dad asked.

“That’s too many, I don’t think I could sustain a stable aura. If you’re able to whittle them down to about 4, I think we should be good.” My mom explained.

“On it.” I stated. Chris pointed out where the Ravagers were and I shot where he pointed, mowing their numbers down from 8 to 4. From there, my mom clasped her hands together, and the remaining 4 landed on Chris, Fox, my mom, and my shoulders, nuzzling us.

_ “What the?” _ Fox sent out.  _ “Please warn me next time!”  _

“I didn’t know they were going to do that. Remember, they’re autonomous.” I told him.

_ “Right. I suppose your mom can’t communicate with them?” _

“Just ask it to move to someone else. I’m sure it’ll understand.” My mom explained. She seemed drained, but her aura levels were still stable.

“Hey lil’ buddy. Can I ask you to move to a different person’s shoulder?” Fox says out loud. I hear its wings flap as it moves from Fox’s shoulder over to my dad’s shoulder.

“Cute ain’t it?” I joked. 

_ “Let’s not refer to Grimm as cute please.” _ Fox sent out. I saw some natural light filter though.

“I hear weapons clanging!” Rasp called out before unfurling her weapon. She looked into the scope. “Lavender, Velvet and Yatsuhashi are fighting right now, but I can’t see who.”

The Ravager on my shoulder flies off and outside. After a few seconds it comes back and lands on my moms other shoulder. It screeches.

“They’re fighting a huntsman outside. A guy with an axe attached to a chain.” My mom relayed.

_ “You can communicate with them?” _ Fox asked skeptically.

“It would be a bit underwhelming if I could befriend them and not be able to communicate.” My mom teased.

We rushed outside. Once we got there, I started shooting at the huntsman with Lyphonexia. He was unaware of us coming, and took some hits. When he turned around to us, his eyes widened in surprise. 

“The Meis are here.” He said in his headset.

“Glad you guys could make it.” Lavender said to us. “Wanna take out the trash?”

“Already ahead of you.” My mom stated. She whispered something to the Ravager on her shoulder, which went out to attack the Huntsman along with its pack. My mother ran out with them, kicking one of her dual knives at the Huntsman. The Huntsman swung his axe to block the Ravagers that swarmed him, but couldn’t block the flying knife. The knife bounced off the Huntsman’s aura, allowing my mother to catch it. The Ravagers swoop down for another attack, this time allowing space for my mother to attack with them.

The Huntsman swung his axe again, extending its reach long enough to include my mom in the swing, though he was trying to use the chain to catch her. Dad however, appeared next to my mom, and caught the chain with his sword. He flicked the sword away from them, causing the Huntsman to fly with them.

“Isn’t this the guy you captured?” I asked Lavender.

“It was a trap. After I sent y’all the information we got out of him, a lot of Twyllo’s men swarmed our hiding spot, including Twyllo himself. They only sent this guy after us.”

“He’s probably trying to cut his losses. Thugs only get you so far.” Rasp said. I saw her aiming in her scope, but it wasn’t to try and help my parents.

“More trouble?” I asked her.

“Could be. I spotted more people on the horizon. They look like Huntsmen but I can’t say for sure.” Rasp explained. Lavender looks into the scope.

“Yeah, they are. They aren’t wearing the colors that our friend here is wearing though.” Lavender said

“Which means they were hired.” Coco said. “How many are there?”

“Just two. I guess they assumed that them and the other guy should be enough to take out some kids and the Meis.” Rasp said. “Wanna go halfsies?” She added, smiling.

“I don’t want to reveal you yet, take shots you know you can hit.” Coco said. “Velvet, how much Dust do you have left?”

“Almost full, I only had to use Anesidora once while in the city, and that was to help Lavender.” Velvet explained.

“Mind posing for a picture Rasp?” Coco said with a smile on her face. Rasp looked confused for a moment. “You don’t have to actually look, just keep staring in your scope like you are. When you get the chance, take a shot at the Meis’ target.”

Rasp does as Coco says, and a flash appears. I heard the Huntsman groan as the shot hits his shoulder, allowing mom to sweep him off his feet while the Ravagers grabbed his arms. 

“Thanks Rasp!” Dad called out. I watch my dad unfurl his sword to reveal the fan part of his weapon. 

“Wait! Doing that will incur a Sandstorm.” I told him. He changes his weapon back into a sword.

“Right. I’ll just let the Geist handle it.” He said. As if on command, the Ravagers flew the man into the cave, where the Geist closed off the entrance, entrapping both it, the Ravagers, and the Huntsman inside.

_ “That’s fucking terrifying.”  _ Fox said.

“What the hell was that!?” Lavender called out.

“Did you not notice the Ravagers fighting _with_ my parents?” I teased. “I’ll explain when we’re safe. Right now we got company.” I turned to Rasp. “How close are they?”

“Almost in range.” Velvet called out on the other side of me. I noticed her doing the same thing that Rasp is doing, even having the same weapon as her.

“Woahhhhhh…” Chris said, looking at Velvet. It was like a spitting image how on point Velvet was mirroring Rasp.

“Let’s stop admiring Velvet for the moment and focus on our enemies.” Yatsuhashi said, with his sword in hand.

“Right, sorry.” Chris stammered out. He blushed from embarrassment.

“I can see their weapons, One’s carrying a lance, the other looks like some type of clawed weapon. It’s attached to his hands.” Rasp called out.

“Given our weapon composition, we’ll deal with the lance-guy.” Coco said. “Team LLCC, you all deal with Mr. Claws over there.”

“What about us?” My dad said. “We still have some fight left in us.”

“Provide backup for whatever side looks like they’re losing. If they capture you, we’ve failed.” Coco said.

“In range!” Velvet called out.

“We got this.” I told my parents.

“Once we’ve engaged, take shots that guarantee hits.” Lavender told Rasp and Velvet, who both grunted in agreement. “Let’s do this.”

Lavender and Fox ran off as fast as they could towards the Huntsman, making sure to block Rasp and Velvet as they were running. Chris and I split off towards the right, hoping to surprise and flank the Huntsman. It took a minute, but Lavender engaged him quickly once she was in range. She threw needles at him, which the guy with the claw blocked with his weapon. Lavender then got close with Emancipation and quickly attempted to attack him. I heard weapons clash.

Chris and I managed to hide behind a dune nearby, directly to the right of our foes. Fox led the Huntsman with the lance away from his partner, leaving us to deal with the claw guy. Lavender took some hits, but got the guy turned around with his back towards us, allowing me to slide down the dune and throw one of my fans at him. It made contact, slicing his back and damaging his aura a bit. He backfliped away from us, keeping his back exposed towards Chris. I caught my fan and stared the huntsman down

“They sent a bunch of Huntsmen in training? You all are just kids, this should be easy.” He boasted.

“Don’t brag now, It’ll look bad when you lose.” I said to him, smirking.

“Nice try kid, but it’ll take more than just the two of you to defeat me.” He retorted. I saw Chris appear from the Dune with an arrow nocked into his Bow. He let it loose, and just as it was about to make contact with the guy, it exploded, blasting him towards us. Once he got up, he looked over to Chris, who’s already sliding down the dune with his whip in hand.

“Three might be a little bit to deal with.” He says nervously. I watched Chris change the Dust vial in his whip as he was sliding down. It looked like the new Gravity dust that Lavender gave him. I changed my fan to its pistol form and pulled out my other pistol. Lavender, sensing my intentions, started throwing needles at him. I run around in the sand, shooting bullets at the guy. I saw the guy take his claws off and connect them, forming one long hooked staff. He spun his staff around and blocked my shots, while using the other end to block Lavender’s needles.

I inserted fire vials into my pistol and continued firing, hoping to make things a bit harder for him to block. It worked, as I watched his staff slow with each block. He was so focused on us that he forgot about Chris sliding down the dune. Chris whipped the sand under him, causing both the guy and sand around him to float.

“Cute trick kid.” He said. He disconnected his staff and took his claws out again, this time holding them like throwing knives. He spun around like a top, throwing out what seemed like a lot more than what he had in his hand. That must be his semblance, being able to multiply throwable objects.

I had to do some quick thinking because there was a lot more coming than I expected, and while I trusted Lavender’s ability to dodge, Chris had just landed from his sliding attack and wasn’t prepared for an attack. I shot at the flying knives that were aiming at him, and managed to hit them all, before I got hit by the barrage. My aura held up until the last couple hits, where I took two cuts to the face, a cut on my left arm and a hit in the upper right torso, near my arm. As much as I wanted to stifle the groan that was rising, I couldn’t, and I let my pain be known. It was loud, startling Lavender, who had dodged her onslaught, and Chris, who looked devastated. It was hard to move my arm, but I still had my left arm available.

“You’re not very smart, aren’t ya kid?” The huntsman gloated, still trapped in Chris’ dust. “You should have saved yourself, prioritize your survival before your friends.”

“You wouldn’t get far with that attitude. Besides, you don’t have any way to attack anymore. All your knives are in the sand.” I said weakly. “You also seem to forget how teams are formed.”

On cue, I heard a shot ring out in the distance, and the guy screamed as Rasp’s attack broke his aura and burrowed its way through his shoulder. I heard another one, this one hitting his leg. I heard one more, but it didn’t hit our guy. It must have been Velvet. Our huntsman falls to the ground, defeated and crippled. Chris ran over to me.

“Lan! Why did-?” Chris starts to say before I cut him off.

“Not even a thank you?” I chuckled, before groaning in pain again. “God this hurts.”

“Hold still.” Chris said. His shut his eyes and he put his hand on the center of my torso. My energy returned to me as my body began healing from its wounds, only a scar on the cheek remained. The throwing knife that was in my arm fell out, and my skin healed over the wound. Once Chris was done, he opened his eyes again. He smiled, but started to collapse before I caught him.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had to use that.” He said weakly. I check my scroll and notice that our aura levels were both at half of max.

“What did you do?” I asked him. Rasp and Lavender came over to where we were.

“I’ll tell you guys when we’re done. This isn’t the place nor the time.” Chris said again. He pulled himself out of my arms and looked away. “Isn’t Twyllo supposed to be here?” He said meekly.

_ “Cute.” _ I thought. He must have been embarrassed.

“Yeah he’s almost here. I could sense him from a mile away.” Lavender stated.

“Yeah, he’s not the best huntsman.” Rasp said. “In fact he’s the worst that came from the academy in his graduating class.”

“Are we talking Jaune bad?” Lavender stated.

“Worse. Jaune at least has potential, Twyllo will crumble with a hit, it’s why he uses his fortune to have other people do the work for him.” Raps explained. Team CFVY appeared from their battle, they looked tired, but unharmed.

“How the hell did he even get into Atlas Academy?” Coco asked.

“He’s charismatic, plus I’m pretty sure his family is a monetary provider.” I told them, Rasp nodded her head in agreement.

“At least this should be easy.” Yatsuhashi stated.

“Yeah, he’s alone. He must have thought it was safe enough for him to come.” Lavender added. We tied up the huntsman and carried them with us.

We walked out to meet him, with my parents behind me. Once Twyllo saw the ten of us walking towards him, hauling his hired men, he started to run away. Rasp shot a sniper bullet into his leg, crippling him.

“Ba Xi! Orchid! What are you gonna do to me?” He said in pain, groaning in the middle of it.

“You’ve earned yourself a one way ticket to jail.” My mother said, before kicking his face and knocking him out.

_ “A Huntsman hiding behind his money and other Huntsmen, what a sad sack of shit.” _ Fox said bluntly.

“Agreed. Let’s hurry and get home.” Coco said. “We’ll meet you guys at the airbus. We’re gonna tell Breccia to move closer to Shade so they can have the support that they were supposed to have.

* * *

When we arrived at Shade, Professor Rumpole greeted us immediately and took us to Headmaster Theodore’s room. Once there, he greeted us with a smile on his face.

“There goes Ozpin showing us why Beacon is one of the best Huntsman schools, though Shade will be tough competition for him at the Vytal festival this year.” He said.

“We can’t wait to see you guys there.” Coco said with a smirk. “Shouldn’t we tell the Meis why we had to rescue them?”

“Right, the main reason we sent a rescue party out to you is because Atlas… Mantle, needs you. They want you back on the council.” Headmaster Theodore explained.

“That’s a surprising proposition, but why would we go back? We weren’t exactly welcome before.” My mom retorted.

“Because the people want you back. There’s been discourse down in Mantle, and they need new representation.” Headmaster Theodore said.

“They’re tired of relying on just Ironwood.” Professor Rumpole added. “They want someone they know will fight for the betterment of them. They want you both.”

“If the people want us, who are we to turn them down dear?” My dad said to my mom. She thought about it for a moment, before nodding her head.

“We’ll get you there as fast as we can.” Professor Rumpole stated. “Follow me.”

“Can we say goodbye to our son and his friends? We never got to thank them either.” My mom said.

“Of course.” Professor Rumpole said. “When you’re ready come near the elevator.”

“I guess this is goodbye son.” My dad said. Him and mom hugged me on both sides of me. “You did a wonderful job rescuing us, we couldn’t be prouder.” He added.

“Of course. I’d never allow anyone to harm you if I can control it. I love you both.” I told them, close to tears. My parents went through and thanked and hugged the rest of our makeshift team. When they got to Rasp, my mom hugged her while dad shook her hand.

“I’m sad we couldn’t catch up, Rasp.” My dad stated.

“It might’ve been better that way.” She said. “You know how I am, I don’t like being caught up with the past.”

“Right.” My mom said. “Next time we see each other though we will have to catch up. Hopefully we’ll meet in more favorable circumstances.”

“Of course Orchid.” Rasp said, blushing.

“Rasp, blushing? Who would have thought?” I joked.

“Mention this to the others and you’ll be getting more than just a warning shot.” She growled back at me, causing us to laugh. 

“Right, well goodbye everyone, thank you so much!” My mom stated.

“Before you leave!” I stopped my parents. “Can you show Lavender the current picture of the council?”

“Of course.” She pulls out her scroll and fiddles with it a bit. She shows Lavender her scroll, which had a picture of the council on it. Lavender’s eyes scroll through the scroll, before she shakes her head.

“They’re not here.” She stated.

“Here, let me show you our opponent, this was taken a few months after the election, 4 months before the assassination attempt.” My mother said. She swipes through a couple of photos, before showing her scroll again to Lavender. Lavender scans the picture, before nodding her head.

“That’s him.” She said. “I could never forget that sleazy face.”

“Of course it was him.” My mom said.

“Wasn’t your opponent-?” Rasp started to say.

“Jacques Schnee, Weiss’s father.” My dad said. “You probably shouldn’t tell her about this.”

“She hates him, I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise to her.” I stated.

“Was that it?” My mom asked. I nodded my head. “Alright kids, thank you all again. Goodbye!” They hopped into the elevator and left.

“I’ll take you guys to your airbus. A great job, I’ll tell Ozpin of your success as soon as I drop you all off.” Headmaster Theodore said.

“Thank you Headmaster.” Coco said to him. He walked over to the elevator and we followed him out of his room and into the airbus home.

* * *

The sun was setting as we were on the way home. I remembered about what had happened between Chris and I. I sent a text to Chris, Lavender and Cherri, who had taken over again since the mission was over.

_ “Only made this just in case you didn’t want to share with Team CFVY.” _

“I’m ok if they know.” Chris said out loud.

“What’s up?” Coco asked.

“Chris had done something during the mission. My aura broke and I had gotten injured during our fight. When the fight was over, Chris came over and touched my chest. When he was done, he collapsed, and Chris, who wasn’t even touched during the fight, had lost half of his aura, while I gained half of my aura back.” I explained.

“I had sacrificed half of my aura to restore yours.” Chris stated. This was a surprise to all of us, which Chris was prepared for. “Pretty shocking right? Even when it’s not my semblance, I know.”

“How did you know you had this ability?” Cherri asked him. “Rasp seems really interested about it too.”

“I must have had it all my life, but I never noticed I had it until I got to Signal. When I got targeted by Cardin again after entering the academy, Yang had leapt to my defense which, at the time, I was a stranger to her. Cardin’s friends had gotten a couple of cheap punches on Yang and she had sustained some damage, but she still kicked their asses. When they were done fighting, I had gone to thank her and when I did, I transferred some of my aura to her on accident.” Chris explained.

“So you just have an extra semblance?” Velvet said, trying to wrap her head around what Chris just said.

“No. I can only activate this if I have enough aura to be stable. And even if I did, I have to be touching them. Besides, my actual semblance required me to work on it actively, this ability is only situational.”

“It’s a cool ability to have!” Lavender said. “It’s costly though.”

“It’s why I only use it outside of battle.” Chris explained. “Enough about me though, we’re almost home, and it looks like we have a welcoming party.”

I looked outside and saw Team RWBY and JNPR outside, waving at us. We waved back.

“Thank you for accompanying us.” Lavender said to Team CFVY. “I’m sure being with a bunch of First Years isn’t exactly your style.”

“We’ll gladly make it our style though.” Coco said smiling at us.

“We had fun!” Velvet told us. The airbus landed and we piled out.

_ “We’ll see you guys at school.”  _ Fox sent out, Coco added a wink. They turned around and headed to Professor Ozpin’s quarters for debriefing.

“WE WANT DETAILS.” Ruby screamed, her, Jaune, and Yang running up to us.

“Let’s head in and we’ll explain everything.” Lavender said, laughing. 

A successful mission, and new friends. What a great end to a stressful day.


	15. LLCC Volume 2 Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trailer for the next volume

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my friend Enby for helping me proofread the chapter!

**_Volume 2 Trailer_ **

_ “To Muerte, _

_ I saw Sleepy Thyme today while doing one of my runs. She’s grown up to be pretty strong and cunning. Kind of like a certain someone I know. We didn’t clash, due to our previous arrangements, but I told her if we meet again to come at me with everything that she has. I’m pretty surprised she even joined that goody two-shoes school. What’s so special that she decided to go? Neo says that she misses you, hopefully everything is going ok up in Mistral. Vale’s been fun, eventful with all the students messing up our plans. Hopefully I’ll be able to write to you soon, I’ve been running ragged. _

_ Love, _

_ Asino” _

_ “Dear Asino, _

_ The news of you and Sleepy Thyme meeting doesn’t surprise me. That’s the price of her going back to Vale. At least she hasn’t caused any extra trouble other than stopping your own deeds. Of course she’s strong, I trained her you know. As for why she went to Beacon, the Wizard asked her personally. Seems that he believed that an Assassin might’ve been useful for his academy. Besides, it teaches her comradeship and learning how to trust and rely on others in combat. You know she has always gone on her missions alone if she’s not with me. Miss you too Neo! Mistral is fun and all, but the clan is getting restless, and they want to move. We’re thinking about moving back to Vale, hopefully the heat has gone down on us. Has Sleepy been talked about in Vale’s inner circles? If not, then I should be clear too. Also, are you still with the Glass Princess? She's probably the main reason why you’ve been run ragged, as you have the skills and power to do what she can’t. At least, you can do it discreetly. She’s hiding something, but I can’t tell what. Write as soon as you can mi amor. _

_ Love, _

_ Muerte" _

_ “Yes I’m with the Glass Princess and listen, I can’t write long for this one. You didn’t hear it from me but:  _

_ Pericolo presto, allontanati. Glass Princess intende trasferirsi presto per la regina.  _

_ Stay safe my love. I’ll see you again. _

_ Love, _

_ Asino." _

* * *

“What should we do with these?” A dark-skinned girl with green hair asked.

“Nothing for now, Emerald. He didn’t reveal anything that isn’t on a need to know basis. It looks like some normal letters between himself and Rojana.” A fair skinned lady in a red dress explained.

“What about that last part?” A boy with gray hair questioned.

“What, him warning her Mercury? If I were in his shoes, sure, I’d want to protect the person I love.” The lady said. “But we’re not him. And him doing this doesn’t derail our plans at all.”

“I’m curious about Lavender though. She’s not an assassin anymore?” Emerald said.

“Not officially. She still has her training, but she’s also being trained as a huntsman. She’s our enemy as of now.” The Lady said.

“Can’t wait to beat her ass.” Mercury said.

“You couldn’t even beat her the last time you both fought.” Emerald retorted.

“She is trained by the best Assassin Remnant has ever seen.” The lady said.

“That was my father before he died. Did the title transfer to her?” Mercury scoffed

“Oh no Mercury. Rojana has been the best Assassin, she’s one that lives in infamy, but undetected no one knows who she is, or what she looks like. Whenever Astra receives a mission, she gives an illusion that she’s not the leader, often reflecting it to an elder there and she would cover her face. But those that she deems worthy, whether it be by respect, or by helping them, know that Rojana is the true leader.” The Lady explained. “People knew of your father Mercury, I wouldn’t call that assassin like.” She joked. Mercury gave her an angry look before dropping the subject.

“So what now?” Emerald asked.

“We’ll ignore it, and continue on with our plan. Tie up any loose ends, we’re gonna go to phase two.”

“Yes, Cinder,” Emerald and Mercury say in unison, and Cinder with an evil smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this chapter means anything, We're going to be going delving into Lavender's past! This volume also is going to be Lavender centered as well, Her past will be split into parts, so be on the lookout for those.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the fic and look forward to the future!


End file.
